DOCUMENTS
 Country
Report Expertise Centre
COUNTRY REPORT 2006 - 2007
3 What has been achieved since 2002
3.1
Legislation
The first step in Turkey’s
adoption of the Acquis Communautaire is to introduce
EU-compatible legislation; and in the case of free movement
of goods this means transposing and implementing the system
of EU-directives and the corresponding quality infrastructure.
The second step is to supplement
the system of directives with adequate national legislation
to make the implementation functional in the Turkish environment.
This includes parliamentary laws that embed the Directives
in the national legislative system, as well as laws that institute
the key organisations to execute the practical implementation.
The present chapter describes these two activities.
The implementation process
also involves the issuing of Governmental statutory orders
(or decrees or ordinances or communiqués) to specify the legislation
at the executive level. This aspect is dealt with separately
in the chapters on Standardisation, Conformity assessment
and testing, Accreditation and Metrology.
3.1.1 Directives
3.1.1.1 Old approach directives
In dealing with the implementation
of directives, old approach directives are treated separately
from new and global approach directives. For old approach
directives, the situation is illustrated in the two figures
below. As shown in the first figure, in 2002 there were some
160 directives, of which 105 had entered into force in Turkey.
During the period 2002-2006 the number of directives almost
doubled to a total number of about 300, particularly in the
foodstuff and dangerous substances sectors. The status at
the end of 2006 is that about 225 old approach directives
have been implemented and the “missing” sectors are mostly
foodstuff, dangerous substances, and spirit drinks.
According to the Undersecretariat
for Foreign Trade, which is the responsible authority coordinating
the implementation of directives, the harmonisation process
slowed down during 2006 because of an ongoing evaluation process.
The second graph shows specifically the implementation by sector or
product group.
The
authorities involved in the notification process for old as
well as new and global approach directives, collectively named
the “Notifying Authorities” and their abbreviations are the
following:
Ø Ministry for Industry and Trade,
MIT
Ø Ministry for Agriculture and Rural
Affairs, TARIM
Ø Ministry of Health, MoH
Ø Ministry of Transportation, MoT
Ø Ministry of Environment and Forestry,
MEF
Ø Telecommunication Authority, TA
Ø Undersecretariat for Foreign Trade,
DTM
Ø Ministry for Public Works and
Settlements, MPWS
Ø Tobacco, Tobacco Products and
Alcohol Beverages Authority, TAPDK
Ø Ministry of Culture and Tourism,
MKT
Ø
Undersecretariat
for Maritime Affairs, USMA
3.1.1.2 New approach directives
The status of the 29
new and global approach directives is that 26 have entered
into force. The distribution amongst ministries is given above.
The three directives that have not been implemented are:
·Measuring
Instrument Directive MID (2004/22/EC), MIT.
·Interoperability
of trans-European high-speed rail system (96/48/EC; 2004/50/EC),
MoT
·Interoperability
of trans-European conventional rail system (2001/16/EC; 2004/50/EC),
MoT
3.1.2 Key laws (Standardisation; Testing, Certification and Inspection; Accreditation;
Metrology)
3.1.2.1 Standardisation
The Law 132 “STATUTE FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE TURKISH STANDARDS
INSTITUTE“ was adopted on 18 November
1960 and published in the Official Gazette on 22 November
1960. This law granted TSE its current status. It defines
main bodies and all duties: standardisation activities, certification
activities, TSE laboratories, metrology and calibration activities.
3.1.2.2 Testing, Certification and Inspection
The Undersecretariat for
Foreign Trade, DTM, has a coordinating role and horizontal
responsibilities with regards to foreign trade policies that
include the implementation of the EU directives for the free
movement of goods.
DTM has implemented the
following directives in the Turkish legislation:
Ø
Horizontal and Procedural Measures
(92/59/EEC)
Ø
Notification of technical regulations
(98/34/EC)
Ø
Council Decision of 22 July
1993 concerning the modules for the various phases of the
conformity assessment procedures and the rules for the affixing
and use of the CE conformity marking, which are intended to
be used in the technical harmonization directives (93/465/EEC).
DTM has implemented the
corresponding umbrella regulations related to the free movement
of goods:
Ø
Regulation on the Notification
of the Technical Legislation and Standards;
Ø
Regulation on the Affixing
and Use of the CE Conformity Marking on the Product;
Ø
Regulation on Conformity Assessment
Bodies and Notified Bodies;
Ø
Regulation on the Market Surveillance
and Inspection of the Products.
DTM, is working on the transposition
of
Ø
the Council Directive no. 2001/95
on General Product Safety (GPSD), amending the Law no 4703
on The Preparation and Implementation of Technical Regulations,
which were published in 2001 based on the earlier version
of the GPSD;
Ø
the Council
Decision 339/93 on Checks on Conformity with the Rules on
Product Safety in the Case of Products Imported from Third
Countries;
Ø
the EU Decision 3052/95 on
Notification procedure on national measures derogating from
the free movement of goods.
DTM has published the Decree on the Regime of Technical Regulations
and Standardisation for Foreign Trade, published in the Official
Gazette no. 25965 on 13 October 2005 and in force from the
date of publication. This Decree incorporates concepts, definitions
and procedures compatible with the EU norms and practices.
Under the responsibility of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, MIT,
the “Law on Consumer Protection”,
No. 4077 of 1995, was amended by Law 4822 in June 2003. 16
implementing regulations, in compliance with the directives,
have been adopted to harmonize the legislation with that of
EU.
In this context it should also be pointed out that TSE, which has had
a de facto monopoly status in many aspects in the mandatory
area is awaiting the new law on standardisation, which will
enable it to become a competitive actor on the free market
for conformity assessment in Turkey.
3.1.2.3 Accreditation
The drafting process for
the accreditation law was already started in 1995 and there
was a final draft ready by 1998. The Law on Establishment
and Tasks of Turkish Accreditation Agency, TÜRKAK, was accepted
by the Turkish parliament on the 27th of October
1999 and published in the Official Gazette of Turkey, number
23866, dated 4th November 1999, Law number 4457.
The TURKAK law is still in force and very prescriptive. It
gives TÜRKAK a predetermined costume without considering the
actual needs of such an organisation as it develops to meet
the requirements of its own internal market. Despite these
facts, the management of TÜRKAK has succeeded in achieving
its goals and adapting to the needs of the Turkish market.
An amendment to the law,
based on EA’s findings during the peer-evaluation is on its
way. It has been presented to the Ministry of Trade and Industry
in January 2005 and to the Prime Minstry in November 2006.
It will hopefully be passed through parliament during 2007.
This amendment will give TÜRKAK the legal flexibility it needs
and will better equip the Executive Management of TÜRKAK with
the tools necessary for participating in the top level decision
making process of its activities and for achieving higher
efficiency in the accreditation processes.
3.1.2.4 Metrology
The Ministry for Industry
and Trade (MIT) has the main political responsibility for
metrology in Turkey. MIT is responsible for the traditional
legal metrology relating to weights and measures; and in the
new approach it is responsible for about 60% of the EC-directives.
Currently metrology is implemented according to the law no.
3516 and related decrees. They were described in detail in
previous reports.
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