Customs Law No. 4458

Customs Law No. 4458 was adopted on 27 October 1999 and published in Official Gazette No. 23866 of 4 November 1999. Its purpose is to determine the customs rules that apply to goods and means of transport entering and leaving the Customs Territory of the Republic of Türkiye (Article 1). The Law has been amended many times over the years, and some of its provisions have been annulled by Constitutional Court decisions.

Under what conditions can goods under customs supervision be destroyed?

Goods brought into the Customs Territory are under customs supervision from the time of entry. Goods not in free circulation remain under customs supervision until their customs status changes, they enter a free zone, or they are re-exported or destroyed (Article 36).

Goods not in free circulation may be destroyed under customs supervision, or abandoned to customs, in such a way that no cost falls on the Treasury (Article 164). Subject to cases determined otherwise, destruction of goods is notified to the customs administration in advance (Article 165). Residues and waste resulting from destruction are subject to a treatment or use provided for goods not in free circulation and remain under customs supervision until those procedures are completed (Article 164).

Can the customs administration have goods destroyed on its own initiative?

Yes. Where circumstances require, customs administrations may have goods presented to customs destroyed; they notify the owner of the goods, and the costs of destruction are collected from the owner (Article 53). The cases in which goods are destroyed on the administration’s own initiative are detailed in the Customs Regulation.

For goods whose customs procedures have been suspended or which have been detained on the allegation that they infringe intellectual and industrial property rights, the goods are destroyed, or liquidated after their essential characteristics have been altered, in line with a decision of the competent court. Without any need for a court to find infringement, the customs administration may allow facilitated destruction under customs control; the procedure is set by regulation (Article 57).

What is liquidation and which goods are subject to it?

The Law provides that goods are liquidated in specified situations. For example, goods for which no customs-approved treatment or use has been started within the prescribed periods, goods abandoned to customs, goods that are perishable or at risk of loss or are costly or burdensome to store, and goods whose liquidation is provided for under other legislation in accordance with this Law are subject to liquidation (Articles 50 and 177).

Liquidation is carried out by one of the following methods: sale by tender, sale for re-export, retail sale, allocation to public bodies and to foundations and associations established by special law, destruction, and liquidation by special means (Article 178). For certain categories of goods liquidated by sale, service receivables and costs, customs duties, sale costs and fines are deducted from the proceeds in that order, and any balance is held in escrow in the owner’s name (Article 180).

What does it mean for destruction and recycling?

Destruction is one of the liquidation methods. The liquidation administration must obtain the views of the relevant public bodies and take the necessary precautions for human, animal, plant and environmental health in respect of the goods to be liquidated (Article 178). The procedures are set in the Liquidation Regulation, which provides for destruction within the framework of environmental legislation by rendering goods worthless and unusable.

Destruction of goods, or destruction or abandonment under Article 164, is one of the ways in which a customs liability ends (Article 208). The Law does not create a separate recycling regime; the recovery aspect is provided through references to environmental legislation and regulations in the destruction and liquidation process.

What should be watched in practice?

For the owner of the goods, the decisive points are to notify the customs administration in advance of a destruction or abandonment decision, to ensure that destruction takes place under supervision, and to know that the cost falls on the owner. Goods on which no action is taken within the waiting periods may become subject to liquidation; after deductions the balance of the sale proceeds is held in escrow in the owner’s name, and money not collected within one year of being placed in escrow is booked as revenue to the Ministry’s revolving fund (Article 180).

The Law should be read together with the Customs Regulation and the Liquidation Regulation: the Law sets the framework, and the regulations set procedures such as committee decisions, official reports and video recording. In particular, goods that are dangerous for the environment or for human or animal health may be subject to separate rules, such as removal from Türkiye instead of destruction.