US embassy cable - 02ANKARA9192

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ANKARA 009192 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
 
STATE FOR EUR/SE, EB/EPD, AND EB/TPP/ABT 
DEPT PLEASE PASS USTR FOR NOVELLI, DBIRDSEY, JHOFEMEISTER, 
AND SLOAN 
USDA FOR FAS FOR ITP/BERTSCH, MACKE, MEYER, THORBURN 
USDA FOR APHIS/LAMB 
USDOC FOR DEFALCO 
VIENNA FOR APHIS/VINCINANZA 
 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ETRD, EAGR, KPAO, TU, USTR 
SUBJECT: New Turkish Quarantine Regulations 
 
 
Sensitive but Unclassified.  Not for Internet Distribution. 
 
 
1. (SBU) Summary.  Turkey has issued new quarantine 
regulations governing imports of all plants and plant 
products that is scheduled to go into effect on January 3, 
2003. Turkey did not notify the WTO of the new regulations 
nor did Turkish officials notify Embassies of these changes. 
Despite requests for flexibility on implementation, Turkish 
officials will not postpone implementation.  It is too soon 
to determine the regulation's effect on trade.  End Summary. 
 
 
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New Regulations Announced 
------------------------- 
 
 
2. (SBU) In July 2002, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural 
Affairs (MARA) published new regulations concerning 
quarantine of plants and commodities.  No notification was 
sent to foreign embassies in Ankara regarding the 
regulations that are to be implemented on January 3, 2003. 
AgOffice became aware of the new regulations in October and 
requested more information. MARA officials from Protection 
and Control stated that the changes were minor.  In 
addition, MARA officials promised to provide an English 
version of the 100-page document. 
 
 
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Ministry of Agriculture No Help 
------------------------------- 
 
 
3. (SBU) After repeated delays and promises, MARA provided 
an English copy of the regulations at the beginning of 
December.  A copy was sent to the regional APHIS official in 
Vienna who in turn sent it to Washington for review.  After 
consulting with APHIS/Vienna, AgCounselor met with the 
Turkish General Directorate of Protection and Control, Dr. 
Huseyin Sungur, on December 19 to discuss the new 
regulations and request some flexibility in implementation. 
Dr. Sungur repeatedly stated that he had no authority to 
postpone implementation and insisted that he foresaw no 
major problems with the new regulations. Sungur also noted 
that his country had notified the World Trade Organization 
of the new regulations.  Note:  A Subsequent check with the 
WTO turned out that there had been no formal notification. 
End note. 
 
 
4. (SBU) Following the Sungur meeting, AgCounselor met with 
Sinan Varol, head of the Department for External Relations 
at MARA.  In addition to several other issues, AgCounselor 
informed Varol of the situation and the difficulties it 
would cause both U.S. and Turkish businesses.  Varol stated 
that this was the responsibility of Protection and Control 
and that his office had no control or influence on this 
issue. 
 
 
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Little Help at Foreign Trade 
---------------------------- 
 
 
5. (SBU) On December 19, AgCounselor and EconOff met with 
Tuncer Kayalar, the Under Secretary for Foreign Trade. 
U/S Kayalar was sympathetic to our request and asked some of 
his staff to contact the Agriculture Ministry regarding our 
request.  However it was clear, given the various comments, 
that Foreign Trade had to follow MARA's lead on this issue. 
Moreover, there was little that could be done to change the 
law by January 3.  Kayalar's staff acknowledged that Turkey 
had not submitted a notification on the new regulations to 
the WTO but other than looking a little sheepish offered 
little to rectify the situation.  In fact, the Ministry felt 
that it was MARA's responsibility to inform all parties on 
the any changes in regulations. 
 
 
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Impact on Trade 
--------------- 
 
 
6. (SBU) It is difficult to fully assess the impact the new 
regulations will have on trade.  AgAnkara has already 
received calls from concerned importers.  The initial 
assessment from APHIS/Washington is that there will be a lot 
to review and that the changes are not as "minor" as the 
Turks have stated.  On the other hand, the Turkish officials 
stated that they are based on EU quarantine regulations so 
that there should not be any major surprises.  In any case, 
Post will monitor the situation after implementation and 
report any disruption in trade. 
 
 
--------------------------------- 
Comment:  Keeping the Pressure On 
--------------------------------- 
 
 
7.  (SBU) In recent years, we have consistently raised with 
GOT our concerns about its failure to notify the WTO 
systematically of rule changes.   We will continue to make 
this point to the new government, and will emphasize the 
link between implementing international rules and attracting 
foreign investment. 
 
 
Pearson