(Containing amendments made by the Act No. 5195 on Amendments to the
Industrial Zones Act)
Purpose and Scope
Article 1 – The purpose of this Act is to lay down rules for the establishment, management and
operation of industrial zones with a view to promoting investments, attracting savings of Turkish
laborers working abroad to the investments in Turkey , and increasing the flow of foreign capital into
Turkey .
This Act governs organization of an Industrial Zones Coordinating Committee, the establishment of
industrial zones and any authorizations and incentives pertinent to the investments to be made within
such zones.
Definitions
Article 1/A – For the purposes of this Act,
a) The Ministry shall mean the Ministry of Industry and Trade,
b) Industrial zone shall mean the manufacturing zones to be established within the scope of this
Act, in order to promote investments, attract savings of Turkish laborers working abroad to the
investments in Turkey, and increase the flow of foreign capital into Turkey,
c) Organized industrial zone shall mean the goods and services manufacturing zones established
under the Act No. 4562,
d) Committee shall mean the Industrial Zones Coordinating Committee
e) Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) shall mean the report required to be drawn up in
accordance with the Environment Act No. 2872,
f) Health Protection Zone shall mean the area where settlement is not allowed, which is to be
confined to the proprietary boundaries of industrial zones under the Public Health Act No. 1593,
g) Private industrial zone shall mean the industrial zones where industrial plants are already
established, which are possessed by natural or legal persons and may be proclaimed in accordance
with the provisions of this Act.
Industrial Zones Coordinating Committee
Article 2 – An Industrial Zones Coordinating Committee has been made up of one representative, at
the director general level as a minimum requirement, from each of the Ministries of Finance, Public
Works and Housing, Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Environment and Forestry, and from the
Undersecretariats of Treasury and State Planning Organization, and representatives of Turkish Union
of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges under the presidency of the Undersecretary of the Ministry so
as to identify the areas on which industrial zones are to be set up and to fulfill other tasks assigned by
the Act.
The Committee shall seek opinions of the relevant authorities and institutions where required, and
may invite their authorized representatives to meetings. Secretariat services of the Committee shall be
performed by the Ministry.
Establishment and announcement of industrial zones Article 3 – The Ministry may propose establishment of industrial zones through site-selection,
whether acting upon applications of institutions and organizations or relying on its own capacity, in
order to ensure improvement of the national economy and technology transfer, boost production and
employment, promote investments, increase flow of foreign capital into Turkey and attract savings of
Turkish laborers to the investments in Turkey. The Council of Ministers may authorize the
establishment of industrial zones in locations to be specified by the Committee, upon such proposal of
the Ministry. The Council of Ministers Decrees on the establishment of industrial zones shall be
published in the Official Gazette. Those lands that are specified as industrial zones shall in no way be
used for other purposes. This matter shall be duly recorded in the land register.
The land that is announced to be an industrial zone shall be expropriated in the name of the Treasury
and allocated to be used as an industrial zone by the Ministry of Finance.
The expropriation costs required for the establishment of industrial zones and the infrastructural
expenses shall be borne by the funds to be appropriated in the Ministry budget to this end.
Furthermore, the land that is announced to be an industrial zone may be expropriated in a way that
costs are covered by the respective investor, provided that prior consent of the Ministry is obtained.
Paragraph two of Article 4 shall apply to such expropriations.
The list of documents relating to registration of treasury lands and acquisition of easement on such
lands, and any explanations on this list shall be sent by the Ministry to Turkish Court of Accounts on
semiannual basis.
Management and operation of the industrial zones shall be undertaken, for each zone, by the
Directorate for Operation of Industrial Zones to be set up under the chamber of industry or the
chamber of commerce and industry in the respective province.
Investment activities in an industrial zone, and any works and procedures associated with
management and administration of the zone shall be subject to supervision of the Ministry.
Authorization for investments
Article 3/A- Preliminary site allocations shall be performed upon applications filed with the Ministry
by local and foreign, natural and legal persons who wish to invest in the industrial zones. For activities
that are subject to EIA legislation, a positive EIA decision or a decision stating no EIA is required shall
be obtained; and before authorizations, approvals or licenses required for admitted activities are
given, the applicant must deposit the amount which will be up to 0,5% of the fixed amount of
investment the applicant is to use for investment purposes and which will be fixed by the Council of
Ministers, in the account of the Ministry's Central Audit Office. These amounts collected by the
Ministry's Central Audit Office shall be recorded in the budget as revenue items.
For the activities for which a positive EIA decision or a decision stating no EIA is required is provided,
all authorizations, approvals and licenses, including the easement, shall be given without the need for
any further actions by relevant authorities. All such procedures shall be completed within three
months.
The sectors that will invest in the industrial zones shall be specified by the Ministry.
The EIA process
Article 3/B - Local and foreign, natural and legal persons who wish to invest in the announced
industrial zones shall be liable to fulfill their obligations under Article 10 of the Environment Act No.
2872. However, such activities are exempt from the decision on site selection. Upon submission of an EIA report, the Ministry of Environment and Forestry shall set up an inspection
and assessment commission as composed of representatives from the organizations specified in the
EIA legislation, depending on the nature of the activity concerned. Period of time to make
examinations, assessments and the final decision shall be two months, at most, from the date on
which the report is received by the Ministry of Environment and Forestry. This time shall not include
the time given to the activity owner for correction of the report. The activity owner shall be obliged to
correct his report, which is returned to him for correction, within fifteen days.
Incentive Measures
Article 4.- Regarding the investments to be made by the natural and legal persons starting to
operate in the industrial zones, the Council of Ministers shall have the sole power to determine which
incentives are to be granted for the investments and how and to what extent all incentives shall be
applied to which incentives within the framework of incentive decree for investments.
Urgent expropriations may be made in accordance with the provisions of Article 27 of the
Expropriation Act No. 2942, with a view to allocating the privately owned lands and plots of lands
within the industrial zones for investment activities. Real properties so expropriated shall be registered
in the land register in the name of the Treasury. If expropriation costs of such expropriated properties
are met by the budget of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, easement may be established on such
properties for a period that is specified under the contract in favor of the investors, in return for its
price; and if the expropriation costs were met by the investors, then an easement in favor of investors
free of charge may be established. All procedures regarding easement shall be performed by the
Ministry of Finance.
Reconstruction Plans
Article 4/A- 1/5000 master reconstruction plan and 1/1000 implementation reconstruction plan and
parceling plans and their amendments as well as surveys, maps, schemes and projects concerning
infrastructure construction of industrial zones in accordance with the principles and procedures
specified by the Ministry, shall be prepared by way of tendering procedures and they shall be put into
force upon approval of the Ministry. During preparation of reconstruction plans, a health protection
zone prescribed within the framework of the protocol to be made between the Ministry of Health and
the Ministry shall be allotted within the proprietary boundaries. Approved reconstruction plans of
industrial zones shall be forwarded to relevant authorities for information purposes.
Specialized industrial zones
Article 4/B- Specialized industrial zones, including information technologies, medical technology and
industrial agriculture, may be set up, provided that advanced technology is employed and research
and development activities are allowed.
The establishment and operation of specialized industrial zones as well as incentives to be benefited,
shall be subject to the principles and procedures applicable to other industrial zones.
Individual investments
Article 4/C- Upon an application of local and/ or foreign, natural or legal persons who are to make
an individual industrial investment, the areas that are considered appropriate by the Ministry,
following an evaluation of the Committee, may be allocated as individual investment sites by the
Council of Ministers under this Act.
In the sites that will be allocated as per paragraph one above, an investment of at least seventy five
million New Turkish Liras (YTL) has to be made, advanced technology has to be used for the
concerned activity, and the area on which it will be set up has to be at least one hundred and fifty
thousand square meters. The investment amount shall be increased every year at the revaluation rate that will be determined by the Ministry of Finance in accordance with the Tax Procedures Act No.
213.
Following applications filed by the local or foreign, natural or legal persons with the Ministry, the
Ministry shall carry out a site inspection and submit an evaluation of the inspected area to the
Committee. If the concerned area is found eligible for investments by the Committee upon the
submitted evaluation report, a positive EIA decision or a decision stating no EIA is required shall be
obtained according to the relevant EIA legislation. Then, the area shall be allowed to be used as an
investment site upon a Council of Ministers decree, noting that urgent expropriation may be made in
accordance with Article 27 of the Expropriation Act. Furthermore, as far as found appropriate by the
Ministry, the land that is announced to be an individual investment site may be expropriated at the
expense of the respective investor. Paragraph two of Article 4 shall apply to such expropriations.
After the specified area is expropriated, it shall be registered in the name of the Treasury. Easement
shall be established by the Ministry of Finance in favor of the investor in return for or free of charge
with due consideration to provisions of Article 3 and 4, after an amount to be specified by the Council
of Ministers is deposited in the account of the Ministry's Central Audit Office, provided that such
amount is no more than five thousandths of the fixed investment amount. These amounts collected by
the Ministry's Central Audit Office shall be recorded in the budget as revenue items.
The list of documents relating to registration of treasury lands and acquisition of easement on such
lands, and any explanations on this list shall be sent by the Ministry to Turkish Court of Accounts on
semiannual basis.
The 1/5000 and 1/1000 reconstruction plans, infrastructure and superstructure projects to be
prepared by the applicant, and licenses and authorizations in connection therewith shall be subject to
approval and supervision of the Ministry.
Upon completion of the above-mentioned procedures, the authorizations, approvals and licenses
required to be obtained for the investment shall be issued within fifteen days without the need for any
further actions by respective authorities.
At the Committee meeting to be held to specify the individual investment site, opinions of the
ministries of Energy and Natural Resources, Culture and Tourism, Health, Labor and Social Security
and Undersecretariat of Foreign Trade have to be obtained.
The natural or legal persons to invest shall be responsible for management and operation of individual
plants.
The authorizations and licenses required for the investment to be completed and for the facility to
shift to production shall also be given by the relevant authorities within fifteen days.
Regulation
Article 5- The committee works, selection of industrial zones, award of investment authorizations,
management and operation of the zone, the rules for individual investments, principles and
procedures for appraisal of costs of supervision by the Ministry and establishment of easement as well
as any other issues relating to the implementation of this Act shall be governed by a regulation to be
issued by the Ministry.
Article 6- The first sentence of paragraph one of Article 14 of the Organized Industrial Zones Act No.
4562 dated April 12, 2000 shall be supplemented by the phrase “and general administrative costs” to
follow the word “the amount”.
Provisional Article 1- The existing organized industrial zones established prior to the entry into
force of this Act in accordance with the Organized Industrial Zones Act No. 4562 may be announced industrial zones by the Council of Ministers, depending on approval of the Ministry, provided that their
allocation rate of industrial parcels is lower than fifty percent, parcels that are not allocated locate
integrally, their infrastructural construction is completed or about to be completed, and they have
some infrastructural advantages such as being close to highways, railways, ports, airports, etc.
If organized industrial zones exist in the locations where establishment of an industrial zone is
requested, the already existing organized industrial zone may primarily be announced industrial zone
partially or completely.
Management and operation of the organized industrial zones that are announced to be industrial
zones shall be under the responsibility of the Directorate for Operation of Industrial Zones to be set up
under the chamber of industry or chamber of industry and commerce within the concerned province.
Management of the organized industrial zones shall transfer administration of the zone to the
Directorate for Operation of Industrial Zones within one year of publication of the Council of Ministers
Decree regarding announcement of industrial zones in the Official Gazette.
The investors who make investments defined in this Act shall benefit the incentives introduced by this
Act.
The criteria sought for translation of organized industrial zones into industrial zones shall be regulated
by a regulation to be drafted and put into force by the Ministry.
Provisional Article 2- Those areas that include already-established industrial facilities, whose land
area is larger than one hundred and fifty thousand square meters, which were put into operation after
receipt of relevant authorizations in accordance with the legislation in force at the time of
establishment and which are possessed by the investors may be announced private industrial zones
upon application of the landowner who is a natural or legal person, and upon approval of the Ministry,
and with a Council of Ministers Decree following and evaluation of the Committee.
Regarding the places which may be announced private industrial zones in accordance with the
paragraph one above,
• the investment should have been realized prior to the entry into force of this Act
• an application should be filed with the Ministry within one year after the entry into force of this Act,
• there is an investment in the amount of at least seventy five million New Turkish Liras (YTL) as of
the date of the application, as updated to the revaluation rate to be fixed by the Ministry of Finance in
accordance with the Tax Procedures Act No. 213,
• advanced technology must be used for the concerned activity,
• a feasibility report concerning improvement of the investment or the technology must be submitted,
• a positive EIA report or a decision stating that no EIA report is required must be obtained, if the EIA
legislation was in force at the time of beginning of the investment
• an ISO 14000 certification must be possessed for a treatment plant, and
• a necessary plot should be allocated with consideration to any potential expansions within the
proprietary boundaries.
Private industrial zones shall not be expropriated. Management and operation of the zone shall be
under the responsibility of the owners of the plants, who are either natural or legal persons. No
contributions shall be required from the natural and legal persons who own facilities in the areas announced private industrial zones. Any authorizations, approvals and licenses of the investments,
which are located in the areas, announced private industrial zones according to a Council of Ministers
Decree and whose authorizations, approvals and licenses have been already obtained, shall be
renewed. The authorizations, approvals and licenses to be newly obtained shall be issued by the
relevant authorities within fifteen days.
The state aids to be implemented in the private industrial zones shall be established by the Council of
Ministers apart from the state aids to be implemented in industrial zones.
Provisional Article 3- Regulations provided for in this Act shall be put into force by the Ministry
within three months of publication of this Act.
Entry into Force
Article 7- This Act shall enter into force on the date of publication.
Enforcement
Article 8- Provisions of this Act shall be enforced by the Council of Ministers.
