Egypt Applies Zero Customs on Car Imports from Turkey

Today, the Egyptian Customs Authority announced the start of the implementation of the last tranche of customs duties prescribed for Turkish imports, in line with the implementation of the free trade agreement signed between the two countries, starting January 1, 2020.

According to a statement issued on Wednesday by the Authority, Egypt and Turkey signed a free trade agreement in December 2005, which entered into force in March 2007.

It stipulates that Egyptian imports and exports are partially reduced annually until they reach "zero customs" at the beginning of 2020.

The Authority announced that the last tranche of 10 percent will be removed to car imports from Turkey, bringing the total customs reduction to 100 percent to car imports.

With the start of the implementation of the Egyptian government, the last tranche, two companies were particularly quick to reduce the prices of their models of cars manufactured in Turkey by a value ranging from 10 to 25.1 thousand pounds.

According to a publication, Toyota has reduced the prices of all categories of the "Corolla" sedan version between 10-19,000 pounds.

Toyota was not the only one that announced price cuts at the beginning of January. Fiat also announced price cuts for Tipo cars, with a value ranging from 18-25,000 pounds.

Egypt also signed an agreement establishing a free trade zone with the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), including Switzerland, Norway, Liechtenstein, and Iceland, aimed at reducing costumes by 100 % instead of 90 %.

As the second article states, the reduction rate for products listed in category (4) should be raised to 100% of the incoming category instead of 90%.

The agreement gives several incentives to support trade relations with the EFTA countries, whereby the fourth list of cars gives a customs discount at the beginning of the sixth year of entry, to be fully liberalized in the fifteenth year of entry into force.