Communiqué on the Import Inspection of Wastes Controlled for Environmental Protection (Product Safety and Inspection: 2026/3)

The Communiqué on the Import Inspection of Wastes Controlled for Environmental Protection (Product Safety and Inspection: 2026/3) was issued by the Ministry of Trade and published in Official Gazette No. 33124 (4th Repeated) of 31 December 2025. It governs the procedures and principles of conformity inspection, from the standpoint of environmental protection, of the wastes listed in Annex 1 that will enter the Turkish customs territory, including free zones, and determines the wastes whose entry into the customs territory is prohibited (Article 1). It entered into force on 1 January 2026 and repealed the previous communiqué, 2025/3 (Articles 15 and 16). The Minister of Trade is responsible for its execution (Article 17).

Which wastes does the communiqué cover?

The communiqué works through two lists. Wastes in Annex 1 are subject to conformity inspection on import; this list contains wastes identified by tariff position such as plastics, rubber, used tyres, paper, textiles, glass and certain metal wastes. Wastes in Annexes 2/A and 2/B are banned from entering the customs territory, including free zones (Articles 2 and 4). Annex 1 wastes must also be free of explosives and radioactivity and must not be contaminated with hazardous or banned wastes or substances (Article 4).

What permit and application are needed to import waste?

Annex 1 wastes may be imported by industrialists who own recovery facilities holding a Temporary Activity Certificate or an Environmental Permit and Licence from the Ministry of Environment, Urbanisation and Climate Change; separate conditions apply to some plastic granules, such as an Inward Processing Permit (Article 5). The importer or its representative applies to the provincial directorate of Environment, Urbanisation and Climate Change in the province of the border customs office through which the waste will enter, at least three working days before the waste arrives, with an information form and the required documents (Article 6).

The provincial directorate evaluates the documents and, where needed, the physical state of the waste; it issues a Conformity Letter if satisfied and, if laboratory analysis finds the waste non-compliant, a Non-conformity Letter. The letters are notified to the border customs office and the importer (Article 7). Border customs offices require the Conformity Letter and do not allow the entry into the customs territory of waste found non-compliant (Article 11).

What happens to waste that is found non-compliant?

Non-compliant waste is returned by the importer to the country of origin or loading, or sent in transit to a third country (Article 7). For wastes found during customs procedures to be banned from import, and without prejudice to penal provisions, the views of the Ministry of Environment, Urbanisation and Climate Change are obtained and the measures are taken under that Ministry’s supervision and control (Article 7).

A similar path applies to wastes found to have entered without being subjected to conformity inspection; wastes that have become subject to liquidation are handled under the liquidation provisions of the customs legislation, provided they are put through conformity inspection (Article 12). In the case of illegal waste traffic, the administrative fines in Article 20 of the Environmental Law apply.

What does it mean for destruction and recycling?

The communiqué is not a destruction regulation; it is an entry control that either stops waste from entering Türkiye or makes its entry for recycling conditional. Its aim is therefore to prevent contaminated, hazardous or banned waste from being brought into the country and creating a disposal burden here, and to ensure that imported waste is used only at documented recovery facilities.

Its link to destruction is indirect: non-compliant waste is returned or sent in transit; if banned waste is found during customs procedures, action is taken under the Ministry’s supervision; and waste that becomes subject to liquidation is governed by the customs liquidation provisions and, through them, the Liquidation Regulation. The recovery documents of facilities importing waste are important for this reason.

What should be watched in practice?

An application not made at least three working days before arrival is not accepted (Article 6). Goods subject to a conformity letter may not be transferred in any way (Article 11). Importers who act in breach of the communiqué are subject to the sanctions provided in environmental, foreign trade and customs legislation (Article 12).

Under Provisional Article 1, imports of waste for which a transport document was issued in the country of departure, or which had been presented to customs administrations, before entry into force remain subject to the previous communiqué for forty-five days from the date of entry into force, although the favourable provisions of this communiqué apply. Because the previous communiqué (2025/3) was repealed by this one, the text in force on the date of the transaction should be relied on.