The amount of fees collected from passengers departing abroad has been increased from 50 TRY to 150 TRY with The Presidential Decision on the Redetermination of the Amount of Departure Fee No. 5307 published in the Official Gazette (In Turkish) dated 18.03.2022 and numbered 31782.

What is Departure Fee?

Departure fee is mandatory fee for all Turkish citizens who is travelling abroad with a Turkish passport.

With the Presidential Decision No. 5303 (In Turkish) published in the Official Gazette dated 15.03.2022 and numbered 31779, amendments were made to the Customs Law. With the amendments;

Along with the changes, tax rates have been adjusted for online shopping,

• For non-commercial purchases under 150 Euros and drugs purchases that under 1.500 Euros made by natural persons;
• 18% if the goods come from the European Union,
• If the purchased goods comes from other countries (such as India, China etc.), it will be subject to 30% tax rate.
• Legal entities will also be subject to the same tax rates for purchases under 22 Euros.
• Items that are more than gifts brought by international passengers on their return will also be subject to the same tax rate.
• In addition, the applicable tax rate will be 0% for books or similar printed publications for individual use, the value of which does not exceed 1.500 Euro.

The Communiqué on Commercial Advertising and Unfair Commercial Practices Regulation for the consumer (“Regulation”) has been published in the Official Gazette numbered 31737 and dated 01.02.2022.

The issues regulated by the Regulation are as follows:

1. Personalized Price Description

A “personalized price” description has been defined with the Regulation.

In this context, the personalized price offered by analyzing the purchasing behavior and other personal data of the consumer and the current sales price of the product will be displayed to the consumer in the same area.

2. Discount Sale Prices

To determine the sales price of the goods or service offered for sale before the discount, the lowest price applied within thirty days before the discount will be taken as a basis. The burden of proof on this matter will belong to the advertiser.

3. Advertisements Regarding Financial Services

In advertisements where the goods or services are offered for sale with a tied credit; details such as the credit period, the interest rate, the monthly and percentage value of the total cost to the consumer, and the reimbursement conditions will be made accessible to the consumer, in the area where the advertisement is published or on a separate website including a warning sign, in an area where the consumer can get detailed information easily.

4. Sorting Practices

In case of sorting by comparing certain features of the goods or services offered for sale on the internet, such as price and quality, information about principles of the sorting will be available to the consumer with a warning sign in the same or a separate website, where can be accessible by the consumer for detailed information easily.

With the Communiqué published by the Central Bank of the Republic of Türkiye in the Official Gazette dated 02.01.2022 and numbered 31707, the default interest rate and the minimum compensatory amount to be applied in late payments is determined.

According to the Communiqué, the annual default interest rate is 17,25 and the minimum compensatory amount is 555.00 TRY.