SUMMARY
The goods subject to import may generally be imported from temporary storage areas, secure storage areas within the scope of the Authorized Economic Operator Status, warehouses, free zones and on-board vehicles (Full declaration common simplified method). In exceptional cases, the goods can also be imported while they are abroad, such as the import of a ship and aircraft, without being presented to the customs. In addition to these, in the pre-arrival notification, the registration of the declaration is allowed before the goods arrive at the customs. According to the fourth paragraph of Article 181 of the Customs Regulation, if the information or document received in accordance with the relevant legislation regarding the goods subject to any control is recorded in the declaration, the declaration is allowed to be registered before the arrival of the goods in the Customs Territory of Turkey. The subject of this article is to examine whether it is possible to keep the goods in the warehouse after the customs procedures are completed and the taxes are paid.
1.INTRODUCTION
The goods subject to import can generally be imported from temporary storage areas, warehouses with secure storage areas, free zones and on-board vehicles (full declaration common simplified method). In exceptional cases, the goods can be imported while they are abroad, such as the import of aircraft, without being presented to customs. In the pre-arrival notification, the registration of the declaration is allowed before the goods arrive at the customs.
According to the fourth paragraph of Article 181 of the Customs Regulation, if the information or document received in accordance with the relevant legislation regarding the goods subject to any control is recorded in the declaration, the declaration is allowed to be registered before the arrival of the goods in the Customs Territory of Turkey.
Within the scope of the Authorized Economic Operator Status, a camera connected to an uninterruptible power supply, consisting of an appropriate inspection and shipment area where the import goods will be unloaded from the vehicle and kept until the importation procedures are completed, after the unloading permit is given at the facilities within the scope of the Authorized Buyer Authorization, with a resolution that will allow vehicle identification and human identification. There must be a closed safe storage area, which is monitored 24 hours a day, including the entrance and exit points to the area, with the entrance and exit points of the area, with the necessary adequate lighting, and which is built to protect the goods from all kinds of external factors and interventions.
2.Temporary Storage Areas and Warehouses
According to Article 47 of the Customs Law; “The goods are in the status of temporarily stored goods and are named as such until they are subjected to a customs-approved treatment or use after being presented to customs.”
According to Article 79 of the Customs Regulation; “Places such as warehouses, warehouses, warehouses or hangars where the vehicles stop, dock or land and are built to protect the temporarily stored goods from all kinds of external factors and interventions are temporary storage places.”
Places where goods are allowed to be placed by the customs administration; Temporary warehouses or open areas as an integral part of temporary warehouses for storing heavy and bulky goods, customs warehouse in passenger halls, temporary storage places in places where temporary storage is allowed in places where temporary storage is not available.
If it is a customs warehouse; These are closed or open areas such as warehouses, warehouses, which are established for the purpose of placing the goods under customs supervision and not subject to import duties and trade policy measures, the conditions and qualifications to be sought in its establishment are determined by regulation, and which are constructed in a way to protect the goods from all kinds of external factors and interventions.
The inspection of the goods subject to foreign trade is carried out in temporary storage places, which are the places allowed to be placed by the customs administrations, in safe warehouses or warehouses within the scope of the authorized cargo status certificate.
3. Subjecting the Good to a Customs-approved Treatment or Use
According to article 3/14 of the Customs Law; . The term “subjecting the goods to a customs-approved treatment or use” means;
a) Being subjected to a customs procedure,
b) Entering a free zone,
c) Re-export outside the Customs Territory of Türkiye,
d) its destruction,
e) to be left to customs;
According to Article 3/15 of the Customs Law; The term “customs regime”
a) Release for free circulation regime,
b) Transit regime,
c) Customs warehouse regime,
d) Internal processing regime,
e) Processing procedure under customs control,
f) Temporary imports regime,
g) External processing regime,
h) Export regime;
4. Obligation to Determine a Customs-Approved Transaction or Use for Goods Presented to Customs
According to Article 46 of the Customs Law; – l. Goods presented to customs are assigned a customs-approved treatment or use.
2. Determination of a customs-approved treatment or use for the goods within the scope of summary declaration, and related transactions;
a) For goods arriving by sea, 45 days from the date of the summary declaration,
b) 20 days from the date of submission of the summary declaration for goods arriving by other means,
completed within the given time.
3. If the conditions so require, the Undersecretariat may determine a shorter period than the periods specified in paragraph 2 and paragraph two of Article 48 or may allow the extension of these periods. However, time extensions exceeding the actual needs cannot be extended.
5. Liquidation of Goods in the Warehouse
According to Article 70 of the Customs Law; -“
1. For the reasons arising from the declarant, within the periods specified in Article 46, the goods within the scope of the registered declaration;
a) Failure to start or continue the examination,
b) The documents that are required to be submitted in order to be subject to the customs procedure for which it is declared have not been submitted,
c) Non-payment of import or export taxes that must be paid or secured, or failure to provide security,
In such cases, the goods are inspected. As a result of the inspection, the cases that require or do not require a fine or other proceedings to be taken by the customs administrations are recorded in a report and then the goods are liquidated in accordance with the provisions of Articles 177 to 180.
2. For goods in customs warehouses, in case of a customs-approved declaration regarding the assignment of a treatment or use, the customs procedures must be completed within 30 days from the date of registration of the declaration. The provisions of paragraph 1 shall apply to the goods whose transactions cannot be completed within this period.
6. Periods for Subjecting the Goods in the Warehouse to Free Circulation Regime and for Liquidation
For the goods in the warehouse, according to article 70 of the Customs Law, it must be paid within maximum 30 days from the registration of the declaration for free circulation. Taxes become payable when the customs inspection officer completes the accrual process and removes the blockage on the declaration. According to Article 198 of the Customs Law; The period of payment of taxes is 15 days. Goods whose taxes are not paid within these periods, that is, customs procedures are not completed, become liquidation.
The situations in which the period is suspended and the extension of time listed below should also be taken into account when calculating these periods.
7. The Duration of Stay in the Warehouse
According to Article 346 of the Customs Regulation;
” (1) The period of stay of the goods under the warehouse regime is unlimited.
(2) As an exception to the provision of the first paragraph, if a declaration is registered for the goods in the warehouse to be subjected to another customs-approved treatment or use, the transactions must be completed within thirty days. If a declaration of another regime, including the customs warehouse regime, is made within this period, under the conditions specified in the first paragraph of Article 64 of the Law, the period for this declaration shall be taken into account.
(5) Goods whose transactions are not completed within thirty days from the registration of the declaration regarding the assignment of a transaction and use approved by the customs for the goods in the warehouse, and if a time is determined, the goods that are not removed within this period are as follows (f) and (g) of the first paragraph of Article 177 of the Law liquidated in accordance with its subparagraphs.
8. The Duration which the Goods Can Stay in the Warehouse After the Customs Procedures are Completed and the Taxes are Paid
Regarding the storage of the goods whose entry for free circulation process has been completed, in the warehouse. In summary, in the letter of the General Directorate of Customs dated 22.05.2019 and numbered 44545309; “…On the other hand, there is no regulation regarding the period of removal of the goods that have been processed within the scope of the bonded warehouse regime and whose release for free circulation has been completed.”
In this case, it is necessary to interpret the meaning of the goods whose procedures for entry into free circulation have been completed.
According to Article 74 of the Customs Law; “The entry into free circulation of the goods arriving in the Customs Territory of Türkiye; It is possible to implement trade policy measures, to complete other procedures foreseen for the import of the goods and to collect the taxes that must be paid by law.
Customs Law 3/6- a) The term “goods in free circulation” means goods obtained from goods completely acquired in the Customs Territory of Turkey in accordance with the provisions of Article 18 and which do not contain any inputs imported from countries or territories outside the Customs Territory of Turkey, or which are subject to conditional exemption arrangements, and Goods that are determined not to have special economic value in accordance with the provisions of the regime to which they are subject, or that are imported from a country or territory outside the Turkish Customs Territory by subjecting them to free circulation regime, or that are obtained or produced in the Turkish Customs Territory, separately or together with the above-mentioned goods; means.
“Customs operation” is not defined anywhere in the legislation. For this reason, it is useful to define a customs procedure.
According to us; customs clearance; Subjecting the goods to a customs-approved process or use in accordance with the customs legislation and other relevant legislation, and applying the customs rules and trade policy measures applied to the goods, vehicles and passengers entering and leaving the Customs Territory of the Republic of Turkey by the customs administrations or authorized administrations and persons, means the collection and securing of taxes that must be completed and paid by law, the abolition of taxes, their return, abandonment of goods to customs, destruction, transfer of property to the public and confiscation.
In article 3/h of the Customs Regulation; Completion of customs procedures: “It means the payment or removal of the taxes belonging to the goods or their securing or the cancellation of the declaration or the abandonment of the goods at the customs or their destruction or confiscation.” It is called.
As can be seen, Goods Exit from the Warehouse is not included in the definition of “completion of customs procedures”. For this reason, there is no harm in keeping the goods in the warehouses in the warehouse after the customs procedures are completed, that is, in using the warehouses as free warehouses.
When we evaluate within the framework of the above explanations; If the goods whose customs procedures have been completed continue to remain in the warehouse, it is understood that the goods should appear in the warehouse stock records unless the actual exit of the goods is made.
9. Situations Where the Duration Stops and Time extension
According to Article 76 of the Customs Regulation; “(1) It is essential that the procedures regarding subjecting the goods brought into the Customs Territory of Turkey and presented to the customs to a customs-approved treatment or use are completed within the periods specified in the second paragraph of Article 46 of the Law. However, if the goods are subject to any judicial or administrative proceedings, the period passed due to such proceedings, the certificate of conformity, control certificate, import license, permit letter that must be submitted in accordance with the foreign trade legislation or other legislation for the goods to be subjected to a customs-approved process or use. The periods passed during the receipt of documents such as surveillance certificate, analysis report or the execution of the related transactions are stopped at the start of the transaction date and are not taken into account in the calculation of the twenty or forty-five-day periods, and the remaining time is given from the conclusion of the transaction.
(2) In determining whether the goods have become liquidated in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Law, the periods of twenty and forty-five days specified in the second paragraph of Article 46 of the Law and the periods specified above are taken into account ex officio. In cases where it is not mandatory for the customs to know these periods, the determination and accrual documents prepared considering that the goods have become liquidation due to the lack of timely information by the person concerned, as a result of an application made until the date of the publication of the tender announcement or the decision for retail sale or allocation, the beginning and end of the transactions specified in the first paragraph. It is canceled if it is understood that there are reasons to stop the period, taking into account the deadlines. Applications stating that there are reasons to suspend the period to be made as of the date of publication of the tender notice or the decision of retail sale or allocation shall not be evaluated.
(3) The periods specified in the second paragraph of Article 46 of the Law are extended by the customs directorates upon the written application of the person concerned, directly or by means of customary communication, before the end of the legal period or the additional period granted. In requests for extension of time exceeding one month, the reason for this request must be stated.
(4) The following shall be taken as basis for time extension requests to be made pursuant to the third paragraph.
1. a) For applications to be made via Registered Postal Posts (Registered or APS) or Registered Cargo Transport, the date the application petition is delivered to the post or courier,
b) The date of entry of the application petition into the registry of the customs office, for applications to be made via Unregistered Mail or directly to the relevant customs office.
10.Common Storage, Goods that can be placed in the warehouses without being subjected to the Warehouse Regime, and the Duration of the Warehouse for the Goods whose Customs Procedures Have Been Completed and Customs Duties Paid
Article 330 of the Customs Regulation: The following items can be placed in customs warehouses.
a) Goods not in free circulation, without being subject to import duties and trade policy measures,
b) Goods in free circulation that can benefit from export-related measures if placed in a customs warehouse,
Looking at the above provisions, it is understood that they are not related to the exit of the goods from the warehouse, but to the entry of the goods to the warehouse. For this reason, it is understood that there is no limitation in these provisions regarding the completion of customs clearance in the warehouse.
According to Article 337 of the Customs Regulation titled Common Storage; “(1) Goods in free circulation and goods not in free circulation can be stored in the same warehouse, provided that they do not adversely affect the implementation of the provisions of the customs warehouse regime and the necessary permission is obtained from the customs administrations. Special identification methods can be determined for the detection of goods in free circulation. However, if this storage makes it impossible to determine the customs status of each ware, only goods in the same customs tariff position, with the same commercial quality and same technical characteristics, are allowed to be stored together. In this case, the goods to be subjected to a customs-approved treatment or use in warehouses shall be deemed to be goods either in free circulation or not in free circulation, depending on the declarant’s preference. However, in the interchangeable use of this item, the item used cannot exceed the amount of the substituted item.
(2) If the goods in the warehouse are irreparably damaged, destroyed or destroyed and the operator cannot prove the actual amount of the damaged or destroyed regime goods, this amount shall be determined by taking into account the amount of the goods subject to the regime in the warehouse at the time of the event.
According to Article 342 of the Customs Regulation, titled Goods in free circulation subject to Processing; “(1) Goods in free circulation that do not benefit from export-related measures may be placed in warehouses, with the permission of the customs administration, for purposes other than export and without being subject to the warehouse regime. However, in order for such goods to be placed in warehouses, the following are must:
a) Proving that the goods in question will be used in processing activities to be carried out in warehouses subject to processing regimes under customs control
b) The warehouse where it will be placed is suitable for the processing activities to which the goods will be subjected
c) There is an economic need
d) Does not adversely affect customs surveillance
e) Without prejudice to the provisions of Article 337 regarding common storage, the customs status of the goods can always be determined
(2) Customs administrations may request that such goods taken into the warehouse to be recorded in the warehouse stock records for surveillance purposes.
Articles 330, 337 and 342 of the Customs Regulation and the article of the General Directorate of Customs, dated 22.05.2019 and numbered 44545309, regarding the storage of goods whose entry into free circulation procedures are completed in the warehouse, “… There is no regulation on it.” When we evaluate his statement together; Since there is no time limit for the removal of the goods, whose import customs procedures are completed by paying the taxes while in the warehouse, it is understood that the terms of the goods being in free circulation and the completion of the customs procedures do not have the same meaning.
Otherwise, if the goods that have not actually left the warehouse even though the customs procedures have been completed and the taxes have been paid, are accepted for free circulation, the common storage provisions of the Customs Regulation must be applied.
The goods in free circulation mentioned in Article 337 of the Customs Regulation are neither export goods nor goods for which customs procedures are completed by paying the data by being taken to the warehouse for importation. In paragraph (1) of Article 342 of the Customs Regulation; “Goods in free circulation that do not benefit from export-related measures can be placed in warehouses, with the permission of the customs administration, for purposes other than export and without being subject to the warehouse regime.” It is the goods in free circulation that can be put into warehouses without being subject to the warehouse regime.
The other idea that leads us to this idea is that there is no need to get permission from the customs administration other than the normal procedure for the implementation of the warehouse regime, and the actual exit procedures from the warehouse should also be completed in order for the goods whose customs clearance has been completed to be put into free circulation.
As explained above, for reasons acceptable to everyone in our opinion, it is considered that the period of stay in the warehouse is unlimited and the warehouse can be used as a free warehouse in this sense, provided that the goods, whose customs procedures have been completed and whose customs duties have been paid, have not actually left the warehouse and the goods have not been deducted from the inventory records, for reasons that are acceptable to everyone in our opinion.
11. Releasing Goods from the Warehouse
According to Article 98 of the Customs Law; “Reserving the provision of paragraph 2 of Article 81, customs administrations request a guarantee from the warehouse operator within the framework of the principles set forth in the regulation regarding the responsibilities specified in Article 96. However, no guarantee is sought for goods placed in fairs and exhibitions or exempted from import duties or placed in warehouses for export.
Even if the guarantee has been received, the goods cannot be partially or completely removed from the warehouses before the customs procedures are started and these procedures are completed and the permission of the customs administration is obtained.
In summary, in the thrifty letter of the General Directorate of Customs, dated 07.07.2017 and numbered 26299254, on the Arrangements in the System for Goods Exit from the Warehouse; In all warehouses with or without an Authorized Customs Consultant, goods entry into the warehouse; After the goods exit from the warehouse and handling operations will be carried out in accordance with the legislation, and following the completion of the procedures, the appropriate one among the “warehouse entry”, “warehouse exit”, “handling” options will be selected from the “Census Report-Registration Transactions” section of the YGMS. necessary information will be recorded in the system; It is also stated that all “warehouse entry”, “warehouse exit”, “handling” report numbers and related date information approved in YGMS after 14/4/2017 can be accessed from the BİLGE System declaration history and inquiries can also be made from YGMS regarding the issue. place is given.
According to Article 338 of the Customs Regulation, the final exit of the goods stored under the customs warehouse regime is possible by subjecting them to another customs-approved process or use that terminates the regime. Within this framework, the goods covered by a warehouse declaration can be taken out of the warehouse at one time or more than once. As stated in our letter in the reference, “warehouse exit minutes” must be issued for goods exits in all warehouses. However, in the system, it is possible to issue more than one warehouse exit report for the goods covered by a warehouse declaration.
It is important to monitor over the system whether the contents of a warehouse declaration come out of the warehouse or not, and in this context, a regulation has been made in YGMS.
Accordingly, the procedures to be done in the “Warehouse Exit Record” field in the authorized Customs Brokers System (YGMS in Türkiye) and the inquiries that can be made from the system are as follows:
1- In case the goods covered by a warehouse declaration are taken out of the warehouse at one time, YGM/officers will answer the question “Is this declaration completely out of the warehouse?” ‘yes’ will be selected for the question.
2- In case the goods within the scope of a warehouse declaration are removed from the warehouse more than once, in other words, there is a partial exit from the warehouse, YGM/officers will answer the question “Did this declaration come out of the warehouse in its entirety?” ‘no’ will be selected for the question, and ‘yes’ will be selected on the last exit from the warehouse.
3- In order to question whether the goods within the scope of a declaration have left the warehouse; Inquiries can be made according to the warehouse declaration number. The query in question; It can be done in the “Inquiry for the Exit of All Goods from the Warehouse on the Basis of Declaration” field in the “Census Minute-Registration Transactions” section of YGMS.
On the other hand, it will be possible to query according to the record type of “warehouse entry”, “warehouse exit”, “handling” from the RECORD SEARCH field in the “Census Record-Registration Transactions” section of YGMS.
In the light of this information, it is important to monitor the goods exits from the warehouse over the system, and the procedures to be done in the “Warehouse Exit Record” field in YGMS should be followed with precision…”.
Basically, three records are made for the exit of the goods from the warehouse. The first of these is the stock records kept by the warehouse operator who keeps the warehouse stock records. The second is the inventory records and exit minutes kept by the Authorized Customs Broker who inspects the warehouse on behalf of the Customs administrations.
12. CONCLUSION
Articles 330, 337 and 342 of the Customs Regulation, the texts of which are included above, and the article of the General Directorate of Customs, dated 22.05.2019 and numbered 44545309, regarding the storage of goods whose entry into free circulation procedures have been completed, in the warehouse, “…On the other hand, they are processed within the scope of the warehouse regime and released for free circulation. There is no regulation regarding the period when the goods whose entry procedures have been completed will be removed from the warehouse.” expression, in the article 3/h of the Customs Regulation; Completion of customs procedures: “It means the payment or removal of the taxes belonging to the goods or their securing or the cancellation of the declaration or the abandonment of the goods at the customs or their destruction or confiscation.” Provision and XI. When the explanations made under the heading of Goods Exit from the Warehouse and the relevant legislation bases and other explanations are evaluated together;
Goods that have been placed in the warehouse by being subject to the bonded warehouse regime, and whose customs procedures have been completed by being subjected to the free circulation regime; Provided that it has not actually left the warehouse and the goods have not been deducted from the inventory records, they may continue to remain in the warehouse, as there is no limitation on the time they can stay in the warehouse.
In other words, there is no time requirement for the goods, which are subject to free circulation entry regime, whose customs procedures have been completed and whose taxes have been paid, to be removed from the warehouse.
Sefa YAYLA
Retired Customs and Trade Chief Inspector
Authorized Customs Broker