Printing of Movement and Origin Certificates and Use of the Term "Türkiye"

Dear Member,

In the letter sent to our Chamber by TOBB, a) Letter dated 13.09.2022 and numbered 78088570 received from the Ministry of Trade. b) Our letter dated 02.02.2023 and numbered 1221. c) With reference to the letter dated 25.05.2023 and numbered 85692001 received from the Ministry of Trade: the necessary information had been provided by our Union in writing and verbally on various dates regarding the need to exercise due care, pursuant to Presidential Circular No. 2021/24 published in the Official Gazette dated 4 December 2021 and numbered 31679, to use the term "Türkiye" instead of terms such as "Turkey", "Turkei", "Turquie" in all kinds of activities and correspondence within the scope of efforts to strengthen the "Türkiye" brand.

In this context, as you are aware, the necessary arrangement has also been made in MEDOS so that the term "Türkiye" can be used instead of "Turkey" in the boxes where information about our country is entered on the movement and origin certificates whose approval procedures are carried out in the Origin and Movement Certificates Automation System (MEDOS).

Pursuant to the provisions of the legislation in force, the printing of movement and origin certificates and their distribution to our Chambers are carried out by our Union, and the said certificates are reprinted at certain intervals as stocks run low.

As a result of applications made by our Union to the Ministry of Trade on various dates on the subject, and based on the opinions conveyed by the Ministry to our Union, the formats of some of the certificates currently being printed have not been changed and the term "Turkey" has been retained; on the other hand, in accordance with the Ministry's opinion in the letter referenced in (a), the term "Turkey" appearing in the statements at the bottom of the reverse side of EUR.1 Movement Certificates and EUR-MED Movement Certificates has been changed to "Türkiye".

Since the said certificates are official documents used in international trade, revisions to the format of the certificates can be made in line with the Ministry's opinion and instructions.

In this context, with our letter referenced in (b), the Ministry's opinion was sought once again as to whether any change would be made regarding the "Turkey" terms appearing in the format of other certificates, in particular A.TR Movement Certificates.

Within this framework, in the letter referenced in (c), regarding the "Turkey" terms appearing on the front side of the A.TR Movement Certificate and the A.TR Movement Certificate Issued under the Simplified Procedure, and other relevant certificates, it was announced that

1) the use of the term "TURKEY" in box no. 4 of A.TR Movement Certificates should continue, but the term "European Economic Community" should be changed to "European Community",

2) the term "Turkey" in the phrase "Insert the member state or Turkey" in footnote (1) of A.TR Movement Certificates should be corrected to "Türkiye",

3) the term "Türkiye" should be used instead of the foreign-language equivalents of our country's name appearing on origin and movement certificates, including our country's name on the reverse side of the Special Certificate of Origin (Form A).

The letter further explained that, in order to prevent the A.TR Movement Certificates currently in the stocks of our Union, our Chambers, exporting companies and customs brokers from being wasted, a transition period until 1 January 2024 has been envisaged for the said changes to be made to A.TR Movement Certificates, and that after this date only A.TR Movement Certificates to which the changes explained above have been applied will have to be used in exports to the European Union (EU).

Within this framework, work has been started urgently by our Union so that A.TR Movement Certificates incorporating the said changes can start to be used in the last quarter of 2023.

Accordingly,

1) planning your stock management for the said certificates, taking into account that the A.TR Movement Certificates in your stocks cannot be used in export transactions to the EU as of 1 January 2024,

2) informing your members exporting to the EU that the A.TR Movement Certificates in their stocks cannot be used as of 1 January 2024, and warning these members to take this situation into account in purchases of the said certificates to be made by companies, I kindly request, with emphasis and urgency, the necessary action on these matters.

Kind regards,

Elazığ Chamber of Commerce and Industry