Ramazan Besoluk

Tariff and Legislation Manager

Consulting • Temps plein

Feb 2023 - Dec 2024 • 1 yr 10 mos

As part of the Tariff and Legislation Department of a licensed customs brokerage in Istanbul, I serve as the in-house expert on Turkish customs classification, valuation, and regulatory compliance. The department functions as the technical backbone of the brokerage — the place colleagues and clients turn to when a declaration needs more than routine processing. Core responsibilities: - HS code (GTIP) classification for goods from every industry — industrial machinery, electronics, textiles, chemicals, food, automotive parts, consumer goods - Calculation of total landed cost: customs duty, additional customs duty (IGV), VAT, anti-dumping duties, surveillance values, KKDF and other applicable charges - Interpretation and application of the annual Import Regime Decree (İthalat Rejimi Kararnamesi) and Ministry of Trade communiqués - Monitoring legislative changes — tariff updates, trade defense measures, sectoral notifications, free trade agreement provisions - Review of preferential origin documents: ATR movement certificates, EUR.1, EUR-MED, certificates of origin - Advisory on special customs regimes: inward processing, outward processing, temporary admission, customs warehousing, transit - Pre-clearance compliance reviews — catching valuation, classification or documentation issues before they reach customs - Direct client advisory on cross-border trade strategy, including landed cost comparison across origin countries and duty optimization through free trade agreements This role combines the regulator's perspective from my eleven years as a Customs Examiner with the operational reality of daily clearance work. I see the same shipment from both sides — what the importer wants to achieve and what the customs officer will actually accept — and I translate between the two for clients across multiple languages.

Customs Examiner

Ministry of Supply • Temps plein

Jun 2012 - Jan 2023 • 10 yrs 7 mos

Eleven years (2012–2023) as a Customs Examiner serving under the Turkish Ministry of Trade (formerly Ministry of Customs and Trade, until the 2018 ministerial restructuring). I worked on the front line of import and export operations — gaining first-hand expertise in how Turkish customs procedures actually function in practice, not just on paper. Core duties and exposure: - Physical and documentary examination of import and export declarations under the Turkish Customs Code (Law No. 4458) - HS code (GTIP) classification review and tariff application across a wide range of commodities - Customs valuation under WTO Valuation Agreement principles, including reference values and surveillance regimes - Verification of preferential origin documents — ATR movement certificates, EUR.1, EUR-MED, certificates of origin - Compliance checks on commercial invoices, packing lists, transport documents, CE/TSE conformity declarations - Risk-based targeting and physical cargo inspection - Handling of special customs regimes: temporary admission, inward and outward processing, customs warehousing, transit - Identification of misclassification, undervaluation and documentary inconsistencies at the point of clearance - Coordination with customs brokers, freight forwarders, importers, exporters and other public authorities This eleven-year period gave me a regulator's perspective on customs operations — I understand what officers actually look for, what raises scrutiny, and where compliance gaps tend to appear. When advising clients today on import and export to Turkey, I draw directly on that experience to help them anticipate issues before goods leave origin, structure their documentation correctly, and avoid the disputes that most often delay shipments at the Turkish border.