A Presidential Decree by President Erdoğan in Turkey has hiked customs duty rates for incoming ecommerce parcels as well as slashing the de minimis meaning even more parcels will be paying the new rates. This was announced on the 6th, meaning the new tariffs come into effect around the 21st of August this year – 15 days after being published.
- The de minimis has been slashed from €150 to €30
- Duty on goods coming from countries outside the European Union has been doubled from 30% to 60%
- Duty on goods coming from countries inside the European Union has almost doubled from 18% to 30%
- An additional 20% tax on top of the combined tax will be levied under a ‘Special Consumption Tax Law’ (mainly luxury products)
- Items exceeding 30kg will be subject to commercial customs laws and incur an additional 48% customs tax
What appears to have been the biggest factor in these regulation changes is the massive influence in buyer behaviour caused by the rise of Temu shopping in Turkey. Consumers have become obsessed with shopping on the app for relatively low ASP products and Turkey wants to protect local ecommerce businesses and give them a chance to compete.
While the customs increases are high, this won’t be the last time we see countries lower de minimis thresholds – the EU has already announce plans to abolish the €150 de minimis for the bloc meaning that all parcels entering the EU will be subject to customs duty. This is planned for March 2025.
