Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey

The Conference on Combating Illegal Trade was held at the ATO with the participation of Trade Minister Ömer Bolat, TOBB President Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu, and Ankara Chamber of Commerce (ATO) President Gürsel Baran.

In his speech, Hisarcıklıoğlu recalled that the first conference was hosted by TOBB in 2022 and said that thanks to the steps taken by all public institutions involved in the fight since then, Türkiye has achieved significant gains. He added that as the umbrella organization of the private sector, they have also taken a united stance in solving problems to support the state’s efforts.

Hisarcıklıoğlu pointed out that the amendments made to Law No. 5607 on Combating Smuggling during this process have made penalties more dissuasive, and made the following assessment:

“Comprehensive improvements have been made to the regulatory framework for the alcoholic beverages and tobacco products market, where illegal activities are prevalent. Significant regulatory reforms have been implemented, particularly the introduction of UTTS in the fuel sector. Thanks to continuous inspections and controls ensuring the effective implementation of all these regulatory reforms, our state has preserved billions of liras in tax revenue, the legal sector has been protected, and a major blow has been dealt to the areas where revenue from illegal activities was channeled.”

Hisarcıklıoğlu explained that, as the Union, they provided all kinds of support to public institutions in terms of contributing to and raising awareness about regulatory reforms.

Referring to their work in this area, Hisarcıklıoğlu noted:

“We provided ‘Training on Combating Smuggling in Exports’ to our chambers and commodity exchanges in cooperation with our ministry. We are also working on the issue in terms of legislation by establishing subcommittees on smuggling in some of our sector councils. We are communicating all our recommendations to public institutions that could prevent smuggling and illegal trade. With the cooperation and solidarity of all institutions, we will be in a much better position to combat illegal trade.”

- Minister of Trade Ömer Bolat

In his speech, Trade Minister Ömer Bolat stated that they are relentlessly combating new forms of unregistered trade through the Advertising Board, saying, “Since June 2023, the Board has imposed administrative fines exceeding 606 million liras and imposed advertising access bans as part of its fight against deceptive and misleading advertisements and unfair commercial practices.”

In his speech here, Bolat stated that illegal trade is a multidimensional issue in terms of its effects, explaining that this problem puts consumer health at risk through counterfeit products and weakens the country’s economy through production, employment, tax revenue, and foreign exchange losses.

Pointing out that illegal trade threatens public order and security by strengthening organized crime groups, Bolat said, “Illegal trade is an area that must be combated because it leads to a decrease in tax revenues necessary for the state to cover its expenditures and causes a significant loss in resources allocated to public services.”

Bolat said that the Ministry has implemented practices that encourage trade in accordance with legal regulations and is working tirelessly to combat illegal trade.

Bolat stated that to this end, they have ensured that customs procedures, particularly export and import processes, are carried out in an increasingly rapid and technology-intensive manner, and continued:

“We are strongly continuing our efforts to protect the interests of our country and our people by controlling the movement of goods, vehicles, and passengers based on risk analyses. We have implemented technical, digital, and legal regulations through systems such as Authorized Consignee, Single Window, Authorized Consignor, Port Single Window, and applications such as the Air Transport Digitalization Project. We have implemented and continue to implement numerous modernization projects, such as developing the infrastructure of our customs administrations and increasing their physical capacity.”

- “Illegal trade is a common problem for the whole world”

ATO President Baran also pointed out that trade, wherever it takes place in the world, is based on trust, saying that a trade approach that is not based on law, ethics, and rules does not contribute to the economy and social welfare.

Emphasizing that illegal trade is one of the most important and critical issues in terms of the economy and that it is directly linked to public health and safety, Baran said:

“Illegal trade poses dangers and threats that transcend the boundaries of institutions, sectors, and countries. Often referred to as the dark side of the global economy, illegal trade has a restrictive effect on economic activities, causing losses in tax revenues and hindering growth. Illegal trade, which manifests itself in many areas, from fuel to tobacco, medicine to alcohol, counterfeit and imitation products to smuggling, has become a common problem for the whole world today.”

Baran explained that illegal trade creates unfair competition for registered and compliant businesses, reduces public revenues by causing tax losses, undermines industrial peace, threatens economic stability, and affects the quality of services by reducing public revenues.

Stating that one of the best methods in the fight against illegal and unregistered economies is to strengthen the transition to a registered economy, Baran reported that Türkiye has made significant progress in this area under the leadership of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.