Dear Member,

In the letter dated 26.07.2024 and numbered 13834102 sent to our Chamber from the General Directorate of Food and Control of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry of the Republic of Turkey,

In international trade, regulations regarding wood packaging materials are made by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), which was established in 1946 under the United Nations. It was stated that a contract called IPPC (International Plant Protection Convention) was prepared by FAO in order to ensure the healthy import and export of plant materials. This contract was opened for signature in 1952 and our country became a party to the International Plant Protection Convention with this contract, which it signed on 11/07/1988 and entered into force by being published in the Official Gazette dated 18/06/1989 and numbered 20199.

The member countries that are party to the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) require that the wood packaging materials used for purposes such as transportation and protection, as well as the goods and materials coming to their countries through export, be subjected to heat treatment in accordance with the ISPM 15 (International Plant Health Measures - Standard for Wood Packaging Materials in International Trade) standard published by FAO.

If the competent authorities of the relevant countries detect that wood packaging material that has not been heat treated according to the ISPM 15 standard has been used, they either send the exported product back to our country without accepting it at all, together with the packaging material and the exported product, or they take the exported product and send only the wood packaging material back to our country in order to protect their own countries from harmful organisms.

Due to the feedback received, both our exporter and the country's economy suffer great damage, in addition to the disruption of the sales process of the exported product and the prevention of foreign exchange entry into our country, the exporter has to pay additional shipping and other transaction fees during the process of returning the product. As a result, a perception is created that there may be a risk of harmful organisms in products of Turkish origin used in international trade, and our country loses prestige in the international market.

The "Regulation on Thermal Processing and Marking of Wood Packaging Materials" published in the Official Gazette dated 25/05/2019 and numbered 30784, which is currently in force, has been abolished and the new regulation has been published in the Official Gazette dated 26 July 2024 and numbered 32613. The effective dates of the new regulation have been determined as 01/01/2025, 1/7/2025 and 31/12/2026, although they may vary according to its articles.

Official controls in export transactions are meticulously carried out by inspectors assigned to agricultural quarantine and provincial directorates. If the product to be exported is a plant or plant product, inspectors check the compliance of the wooden packaging material used with the exported product with the aforementioned regulation and ISPM 15 standard and allow export transactions if appropriate.

However, if the exported product is an industrial product other than plants and plant products such as marble, white goods, machinery and equipment, auto spare parts, glass, electronic goods, etc., inspectors cannot see the wooden packaging materials used with these exported industrial products unless they are declared and cannot inspect whether the ISPM15 marking is applied and whether they comply with the ISPM 15 standard.

The vast majority of feedback sent to the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry of the Republic of Turkey consists of these product groups that cannot be controlled by official inspectors. In order for our exporters not to be victimized, for the products they produce with great sacrifice and effort not to experience problems in the export process in the other country, and for none of our exporters' products to be returned due to the wooden packaging material used, the Ministry has aimed to prevent their victimization by carrying out intensive information and training activities until the effective date of the new regulation, 01/01/2025.

In the new regulation, certain responsibilities have been imposed on the authorized enterprises, exporters, suppliers referred to as second hand dealers in the market and businesses that sell or manufacture and sell marking devices, which are stakeholders of the wooden packaging material used in exports. Considering that the feedback received will be minimized if the authorized enterprises produce and mark the wooden packaging material in accordance with the new regulation, exporters use it, suppliers trade it and businesses that sell marking devices do not sell marking devices to everyone who wants it, it is evaluated that our country will gain prestige in the international market regarding the products we export.

With the regulation that will enter into force on 01/01/2025, it is certain that future grievances will be prevented if the businesses with permits, suppliers and businesses selling marking equipment registered with our Chamber are examined very well. Within the scope of the responsibilities imposed on the businesses with permits, suppliers, businesses selling marking equipment and our exporters with the new regulation, it has been made obligatory for exporters to use wood packaging materials in accordance with the regulation in their exports and to purchase the wood packaging materials they need from businesses with permits or suppliers licensed by the ministry.

Information on businesses licensed by the Ministry, suppliers and businesses authorized to sell marking devices will be published on the official website of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry of the Republic of Turkey, and our exporters must definitely obtain these wooden packaging materials from any of the businesses whose names appear on the website. It should be noted that if businesses that are not authorized by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry to sell wooden packaging materials for export sell wooden packaging materials used in export, administrative fines will be imposed on these businesses that manufacture or sell marking devices without obtaining permission from the Ministry.

Businesses that engage in commercial activities in the sale of wooden packaging materials used in export and in the manufacture or sale of marking equipment must apply to the agricultural quarantine directorates in provinces with agricultural quarantine directorates, or to the provincial agriculture and forestry directorates in provinces without agricultural quarantine directorates, to obtain the necessary permits and to publish their information on the Ministry's official website.

In this context, with regard to the new regulation that will come into force on 01/01/2025, the businesses registered to our Chamber in our province must be familiar with the permit obligation and administrative fines introduced within the scope of the new regulation and apply to the agricultural quarantine directorate / provincial agriculture and forestry directorate to complete the registration procedures in order to obtain the permit documents issued by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry of the Republic of Turkey.

Best regards.