In this regard, Common transit is used for the movement of goods between the EU Member States, the EFTA countries (Iceland, Norway and Switzerland– including Liechtenstein in as far as it forms a Customs Union with Switzerland) Macedonia, Serbia and Turkey.

In the capacity as the 2015 year chairmanship of EU/EFTA Joint Committees of the Conventions on common transit and on the simplification of formalities in trade in goods, The Ministry of Customs and Trade of the Republic of Turkey conducted and finalized the accession process of both Macedonia and Serbia to the Conventions.

Thereby firstly, Macedonia becomes the Contracting Party of the Conventions as of 1 July 2015.  Then, as of 1 February 2016, Serbia joined the Common Transit System. By this accession, number of the Contracting Parties to the Conventions increased to 35.

The accession to the conventions enables easier and faster movement of goods due to the realization of the transit procedure by submitting a single transit declaration in electronic form in the place of departure which is valid for the entire journey until the place of destination within the contracting parties of the Convention. The transit declaration is simultaneously used as a so-called entry summary declaration which should be submitted for commodities entering any EU Member State.

The New Computerized Transit System (NCTS) is a system that is based on the use of advanced computer technology and electronic data processing. NCTS is the basis for the implementation of the transit procedure by exchanging electronic messages between agents in the customs procedure and customs offices, as well as among customs offices. It serves as a tool for management and control of the transit operations and provides more modern and efficient management from the system that used to be based on paper.

On the other hand, Turkish Customs Administration completed the technical studies of adoption of the amendments to the Convention and its Appendices both with respect to the substance and terminology on the basis of the decision of EU-EFTA Joint Committee on Common Transit No. 1/2016, for the purpose of their alignment with the requirement of the Union Customs Code as well as its relevant delegated and implementing acts, which has been in effect as of 1st May 2016.

Source: Ministry of Customs and Trade

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In this context, the Ministry of Customs and Trade of the Republic of Turkey has put into practice the Customs to Customs (C2C) exchange of data project with Georgia and Customs to Business/Business to Customs (C2B/B2C) exchange of data project with Iran.

Through both projects, the aim is to make customs procedures and international border crossings quick and simple towards paperless cross-border trade.

The project has 6 stakeholders. It is developed by the UNECE and IRU and conducted by the Turkish and Iranian Customs Administrations.

The signatories of the TOR, thus the stakeholders of the pilot project are: the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), International Road Transport Union (IRU), Ministry of Customs and Trade of Turkey, Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration, the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB) and Iranian Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Mines (ICCIMA).

The first phase of the pilot project covered a period from November 2015 to August 2016, and the second phase covered a period from August 2016 to February 2017.

As the TOR of the pilot project foresees a 1-year implementation, by the end of February 2017, 82 pilot transports in total were carried out with great success.

All of the companies took part in the Project used e-guarantees.

In line with the Terms of Reference, no paper TIR Carnets was used.

Instead, due to legal necessities, “print at home solution” was applied. All through the pilot project, TIR Carnet format was applied as an accompanying document with the exact TIR Carnet layout.

During the second phase of the pilot, more companies and additional customs offices were involved, which allowed multiple loading and unloading.

With the finalization of the project, the actors concluded on the understanding that eTIR transports can continue after the end of phase 2, meaning after 28 February 2017 within the same scope, unless one Party notifies all the Parties of the intention to discontinue.

Turkey and Georgia concluded a Protocol on Data Exchange including the TOR of an eTIR Pilot Project on 26 January 2016, with the occasion of International Customs Day.

Aiming at testing specific features of e-TIR Reference Model, this pilot project will start soon. The data exchange platform on UNECE has already been established and tests to transmit and receive of data via the exchange platform are being conducted.

Source: Ministry of Customs and Trade

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Economic confidence index increased by 3.6% compared to previous month increasing from 96 to 99.5 in April. This increase in economic confidence index stemmed from the increases in consumer, retail trade and services confidence indices.

Consumer confidence index increased to 71.3, retail trade confidence index increased to 101.6 and services confidence index increased to 99.9 in April.

Construction confidence index decreased to 85.7 and real sector confidence index decreased to 106.3 in April.

Economic confidence index, April 2017

Economic confidence index, sectorial indices and the rate of changes, April 2017

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Consumer confidence index, April 2017

Financial situation expectation index realized as 90.7
The financial situation expectation of household index increased by 3.4% compared to the previous month and became 90.7 in April. This increase resulted from the increase in the ratio of people expecting better financial situation of household in the next 12 months period.

General economic situation expectation index became 96.2
The general economic situation expectation index which was 93.2 in March increased by 3.3% and became 96.2 in April. This increase shows that number of consumers expecting a better general economic situation in the next 12 months increased compared to the previous month.

Number of people unemployed expectation index became 73.1
The number of people unemployed expectation index increased by 3.7% compared to the previous month and became 73.1 in April. This increase stemmed from the increase in the ratio of people expecting a decrease in the number of unemployed persons in the next 12 months.

Probability of saving index realized as 25.1
The probability of saving index increased by 26.3% from 19.9 in March to 25.1 in April. This increase shows that the possibility of saving of consumers in the next 12 months period increased compared to the previous month.

Consumer confidence index, sub-indices and rate of changes, April 2017

Legal Notice: The information in this article is intended for information purposes only. It is not intended for professional information purposes specific to a person or an institution. Every institution has different requirements because of its own circumstances even though they bear a resemblance to each other. Consequently, it is your interest to consult on an expert before taking a decision based on information stated in this article and putting into practice. Neither MuhasebeNews nor related person or institutions are not responsible for any damages or losses that might occur in consequence of the use of the information in this article by private or formal, real or legal person and institutions.