Türkiye — agent-bev Library

Market status

Licensed. Private operators may import, produce, distribute, wholesale, retail and sell to the on-trade only through the relevant Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Tütün ve Alkol Dairesi Başkanlığı (TADAB) authorisations and sales certificates. Producers receive production permission and a Dağıtım Yetki Belgesi (DYB); importers use DYB, alcoholic-beverage notification and bandrol/product approval routes. Wholesale and retail remain certificate-based, and consumer distance sale is restricted while controlled business-to-business (B2B) online sale is separately regulated.

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Who can trade

Import: Packaged alcoholic beverages for market supply require an alcoholic-beverage notification to TADAB, product and shipment documentation, Turkish label samples and bandrol approval. Importers apply for a DYB; the published TADAB guidance states that the importer DYB is valid for two years. Certain bulk alcoholic beverages, alcoholic mixtures, distillates and concentrates listed in the import-control annex cannot be put into free circulation or imported, except for specified testing, sample, research and processing cases.

Wholesale and distribution: Producers and importers place products on the market through their own distribution or responsible distributors and wholesalers. A DYB is required for import and for placing production on the market. Wholesale sales of alcoholic drinks require an alcoholic-drink wholesale sales certificate; a separate certificate is required for each sales or storage place. Producers and importers may sell to wholesalers under their production, import and distribution authorisations, but direct supply to retail or open-sale sellers requires the wholesale sales certificate. Wholesalers may not buy from uncertificated sellers or sell to persons without a valid sales certificate, and invoices/dispatch documents carry TADAB registry details and product identification.

Business-to-business (B2B) online sale: Consumer online, postal and similar distance sales cannot be set up. Certified sellers may sell to non-consumers through information-society services or postal order only with a physical workplace, prior notification of the sales medium, inclusion of that medium on the sales certificate, and access limited to supply-chain users holding sales certificates by username and password.

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Customs and duty

Tariff headings: Beer: 2203, malt beer. Wine: 2204, fresh grape wine including fortified wine and relevant grape must. Cider: 2206, other fermented beverages; the import-control annex expressly includes apple cider, perry, mead and similar fermented drinks under 2206. Spirits: 2208, undenatured ethyl alcohol below 80% alcohol by volume, spirits, liqueurs and other spirituous beverages.

Import duty: Use the İstatistik Pozisyonlarına Bölünmüş Türk Gümrük Tarife Cetveli and the full twelve-digit Gümrük Tarife İstatistik Pozisyonu (GTİP), not only the four-digit heading. The Ministry of Trade publishes the current tariff and import-regime materials. The Import Regime Decision covers customs duty, additional fiscal liabilities, equivalent charges, import policy measures and import permissions. Origin, free-trade or preference rules, additional customs duties and product-safety controls can alter the treatment.

Excise: Alcoholic drinks fall in list III(A) of the Özel Tüketim Vergisi (ÖTV) system. The list covers malt beer under 2203, wine and grape must under 2204, other fermented drinks under 2206 and spirits under 2208. The structure uses listed ad valorem rates and/or minimum specific excise amounts by tariff line and product. The law allows differentiated rates or minimums by product type, features, price group, alcohol degree and contained alcohol.

Territorial treatment: Customs law defines the Türkiye Customs Territory as the territory of the Republic of Türkiye, including territorial waters, internal waters and airspace. Imported goods remain under customs supervision until their customs status is determined or a customs-approved treatment applies, including free-zone treatment. No separate provincial customs territory applies to ordinary imports.

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Labelling

Required language(s): Mandatory food information must be in Turkish. Other official languages may appear in addition, but Turkish mandatory information remains required.

Mandatory warnings: Non-export alcoholic drinks produced in or imported into Türkiye must carry Turkish written warning messages stating harms. The warning may also be in picture, shape or graphic form. Products without the required warning messages cannot be offered for sale or sold. TADAB requires warning-message compliance undertakings in the alcoholic-drink online product-approval process.

Alcohol strength: Beverages above 1.2% alcohol by volume declare actual alcoholic strength. Wine under heading 2204 follows the wine-code rules for alcohol declaration; other alcoholic drinks follow the general food-information annex rules.

Allergen lines: Annex allergens must be declared. If a product has no ingredients list, the allergen is named after the word “contains”. Sulphur dioxide and sulphites are declared at concentrations above 10 milligrams per kilogram or litre, measured as total sulphur dioxide.

Origin lines: The general food-information rule requires a clear, unabbreviated country-of-origin statement. Imported products identify the responsible food business as importer. For alcoholic-beverage import notification, the Turkish label sample also states the beverage’s production country and, if different, the packaging country.

Wine particulars: The Wine Communiqué sets wine-specific labelling, including alcohol-tolerance rules, minimum character size for actual alcohol, optional colour names, optional grape variety, region and production year, sugar-expression categories, and statements for artificially sparkling or semi-sparkling wine and wine from over-ripe grapes.

Label registration/product approval: Import and product-approval files include original and Turkish label samples, technical specifications, production process, and any geographical indication, label, bottle or closure registration documents. TADAB product approval does not remove the operator’s responsibility for compliance with other legislation.

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Age and sale limits

Legal purchase age: 18. Alcoholic drinks cannot be sold or served for consumption or takeaway to persons under 18; sellers must request identity where age is doubtful. Persons under 18 also cannot be employed in alcoholic-drink production, marketing, sale or open service, except for legally conducted educational work.

Sale-hour and channel limits: Retail sale of alcoholic drinks is prohibited from 22:00 to 06:00. Alcoholic drinks cannot be sold through automatic vending machines, game or betting-related machines or methods, press or broadcast consumer sales, or postal sale to consumers. Open alcoholic-drink premises may serve for on-site consumption within their licensed boundaries only.

Place and channel limits: Alcoholic-drink sale or service is barred in listed premises including student dormitories, health-service premises, stadiums and indoor sports halls, education premises, coffee houses, pastry shops, certain card-game premises and fuel stations. For retail or open sale, the place must generally be at least 100 metres door-to-door from formal education institutions, student dormitories and places of worship, subject to the stated exceptions.

Regional and local layers: The nationally sourced rules are applied through premises sales certificates and local workplace permissions. Retail (perakende) and open-sale applications attach a workplace opening and operating licence; where there is no municipal organisation, a positive opinion from the local civil authority is used. Distance confirmation is recorded by the authority that issues the workplace licence or by an additional letter.

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Protected names

Protection framework: Türk Patent ve Marka Kurumu (TÜRKPATENT) is the official authority for registration of geographical indications and traditional product names. Registered geographical indications must be used according to their specifications; misuse, imitation, evocation and misleading origin statements can infringe the right. The official emblem is mandatory for registered geographical indications.

Verified wine names: Avşa Adakarası Şarabı is registered as a wine geographical indication. Bordeaux and Champagne are registered foreign wine geographical indications in the same official portal. These examples are not exhaustive.

Verified spirit names: Türk Rakısı, Rakı and Cognac are registered spirit-related geographical indications in the official portal. These examples are not exhaustive.

Verified beer protected name: Not yet sourced.

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GTIN authority

Global Trade Item Number (GTIN) member organisation: GS1 Türkiye, operated through GS1 Türkiye Vakfı and its economic enterprise. Its rules define GS1 Türkiye as the route for GS1 system membership in Türkiye and for allocation of GS1 company prefix numbers.

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Not yet sourced

Verified beer protected name: Not yet sourced.