Vehicles waiting in customs areas are among the subjects on which we receive the most questions. Vehicles brought into Türkiye under tourist facilities, those whose import formalities cannot be completed, and those in respect of which judicial or administrative action has been taken enter the liquidation regime after certain periods. Beyond that point the scope for redress narrows.
Why does a vehicle remain at customs?
In practice there are three principal reasons for a vehicle remaining in the customs area. The first is failure to take a vehicle brought in under temporary importation out of the country within its legal period. The second is failure to complete declaration, documentation or tax obligations during the import formalities. The third is that the vehicle has been seized, confiscated or made subject to an administrative sanction.
The legal consequences of these three situations differ from one another. Whereas exceeding the temporary importation period essentially results in an administrative fine and a requirement that the vehicle be taken out of the country, a seizure based on an allegation of smuggling begins a separate process tied to the outcome of criminal proceedings. The first task, therefore, is to establish from the customs records exactly what legal status the vehicle holds.
How does the liquidation process work?
Goods not made subject to a customs-approved treatment or use become liable to liquidation once the periods prescribed by legislation expire. Liquidation may take the form of sale by auction, re-exportation, destruction, or allocation to public institutions.
The critical point is this: before the goods are liquidated, notice is given to the owner and a window for application is opened. If the necessary declaration is made within that window and the taxes and any penalties are paid, the vehicle can be recovered. Failure of the notice to reach the address for service, or failure to act on it, allows the process to advance irreversibly.
The loss of rights we encounter most often in customs files stems not from a weak legal basis, but from failure to keep track of service of documents.
If the sale has taken place, can the proceeds be claimed?
Where a balance remains from the sale price of goods sold under liquidation, after deduction of customs duties, fines, storage and liquidation costs, that amount is paid to the person entitled. This claim, however, is also subject to a time limit, and where no application is made within it the balance is recorded as revenue to the Treasury.
For that reason, even where the vehicle has in fact been disposed of, the file should not be closed and the application in respect of the balance must be made within time.
What routes are open against the administrative act?
- Administrative objection: Against tax assessments and penalty decisions issued by the customs administration, an objection is made to a higher authority within the period prescribed from service of the decision. In most files this stage is a mandatory preliminary step.
- Annulment action: Where the objection is rejected, expressly or by implication, annulment of the act is sought before the administrative court. If there is a risk of the vehicle being sold, an application for a stay of execution must also be made.
- Criminal proceedings: Where the seizure was carried out in the course of an investigation, the request for return of the vehicle is assessed under criminal procedure. An acquittal or a decision not to prosecute may not by itself suffice for return; a separate request is also required.
- Full remedy action: Compensation may be sought for loss suffered as a result of an unlawful act of the administration. Depreciation of the vehicle, storage costs and loss of use are assessed within this scope.
What should be done?
If you have a vehicle waiting at customs, first establish its current status in the customs records, the amount of tax and penalty assessed, and the stage the liquidation process has reached. Without these three pieces of information, any application made is merely a waste of time. Keep every document served on you together with its date; time limits run from the date of service.
