What do I actually do in TOBB? (Week 5 ATO)

Saying goodbye to the Twin building, I move to ATO (Chamber of Commerce of Ankara, as I said TOBB is the head of the umbrella organization) to continue my trainee program.

I am assigned to the Department of Foreign Trade which is responsible for the coordination concerning exports and imports for the sake of companies registered in Ankara.

The first duty of the department is to issue the "Certificate of Origin" to confirm the products exported by Turkish companies are originally produced in Turkey, so that these companies could fully benefit from European Union Custom Union, General Preference system (with U.S., Russia, Canada for examples), and Bilateral Trade Agreement (say, with Israel).

The management of the Data Base (http://www.ato.org.tr/), administration in regard to "Temporary export" (usually for Trade Fairs Abroad) and of course the issue of A.T.A(*1) Carnet, are some other tasks of which the Department is in charge.

*1
"The ATA Carnet is an international customs document that allows the holder to temporarily (up to one year) import goods without payment of normally applicable duties and taxes, including value-added taxes. The Carnet eliminates the need to purchase temporary import bonds. So long as the goods are re-exported within the allotted time frame, no duties or taxes are due. Failure to re-export all goods listed on the Carnet results in the need to pay the applicable duties. Failure to remit those duties results in a claim from the foreign customs service to the importers home country.

The acronym ATA is a combination of French and English phrases "Admission Temporaire/Temporary Admission."
According to the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), in 2008, about 165,500 Carnets were issued internationally. They covered goods valued at almost US$ 20 billion." (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ATA_Carnet)



ATO, Chamber of Commerce of Ankara