1) Free Movement of Goods

Content of Chapter

The free movement of goods chapter is one of the four fundamental freedoms of European Union. In this context, the aim is the free circulation of industrial goods that are placed on the internal market of the Union by member states and industrial goods that are imported to the Union according to specific rules without any technical barrier on trade within the Union.

In order to enable free movement of goods; the alignment of technical legislation and the establishment of necessary infrastructure including the  public laboratories that control conformity of products in the market and  third party bodies  (conformity assessment bodies and notified bodies) that perform testing and certification of products before being placed on the market are required.

Moreover, the certification of technical competence of laboratories by a national third party established for this purpose (accreditation body: TURKAK), establishment of a proper functioning metrology system (responsible institutions: Ministry of Science, Industry and Technology, National Metrology Institute (TUBITAK-UME), Turkish Standards Institute), adoption and implementation of European standards that will assure the proper implementation of technical legislation and full membership to European standardization institutions (responsible institution for standardization: TSE) are the key elements for free movement of goods.

For chapter 1- free movement of goods, explanatory screening meeting was held on 16-20th January 2007, bilateral screening meeting was held on 20-24th February 2007. Following the decision of the EU dated 11 December 2006, five opening benchmarks including the Additional Protocol are notified to Türkiye.

This Chapter is one of the chapters that are suspended until the full non-discriminatory implementation of the Additional Protocol of the Association Agreement. Four opening benchmarks except Additional Protocol are as follows;

Opening Benchmarks

1. Removal of import permits or license requirements, as well as disproportionate requirements for certificates, for the products covered by the Customs Union, other than motor vehicles, and with particular reference to alcoholic beverages. Submission to the Commission a plan for removing import permits on used motor vehicles.

2. Completing the internal screening of measures contrary to Article 28-30 of the EC Treaty (concerning the abolishment of quotas between the member states in exports and imports),  provides a plan for their removal and introduces the mutual recognition clause in its legal order.

3. Presenting an action plan with milestones for the remaining alignment in the areas of horizontal and procedural measures, as well as pharmaceuticals.

4. Presenting to the Commission a comprehensive strategy with milestones for the upgrade of administrative capacity necessary for the implementation of the EC legislation on market surveillance. 

Progress Achieved

Harmonization efforts for the opening benchmarks except the issue of Additional Protocol have been ongoing since 1996, as they are our Customs Union obligations. With the Customs Union there is an important progress in the alignment of technical legislation and a significant part of the relevant EU legislation was adopted.

Regarding the second opening benchmark; in order to adopt the mutual recognition clause, which is implemented for legislative measures outside the scope of EU acquis but covered by national legislation, “ By-law on Mutual Recognition in Non-Harmonized Area” prepared by the Ministry of Economy was published in the Official Gazette dated 23.6.2012 and numbered 28332.It entered into force on 1^st of January 2013.   

To meet the opening benchmark related to market surveillance, “National Market Surveillance Strategy Document (2010-2012)” dealing with fundamental structural problems of the market surveillance system has been prepared and adopted under the coordination of the Ministry of Economy by taking opinions of related public institutions, private sector and consumer organisations. This document was translated and sent to the Commission. This document was updated by the “National Market Surveillance Strategy Document (2012-2014)” which was also sent to the Commission. Moreover, New National Market Surveillance Strategy Document covering period between 2015 and 2017 has been adopted by Market Surveillance and Product Safety Evaluation Board. New strategy document was translated into English and sent to Commission.

Up to date, approximately 30 million Euros from the EU financial resources has been provided for improving the infrastructure of laboratories, that will carry out market surveillance and testing activities.

Law No 132 on the establishment of Turkish Standards Institute (TSE) has been amended by Decree Law No 662 dated 2nd November 2011. With this amendment, TSE will provide standard preparation activity more efficiently TSE was granted full membership status by CEN and CENELEC on 1.1.2012. 

Regarding accreditation, The Law No. 4457 on the Establishment and Tasks of Turkish Accreditation Agency was amended by Law No. 6337 on 29^th of June 2012. With this Law TURKAK has been restructured.

Related Directory in the European Commission

Free movement of goods chapter is under the responsibility of DG Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship & SMEs. The main objective of the DG is to contribute to the design, implementation and improvement of regulatory policy and so make the single market work better by removing existing barriers to trade and avoiding the creation of new ones.

For detailed information on free movement of goods:

http://ec.europa.eu/growth/single-market/goods/index_en.htm

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