HOW TO ESTABLISH A FREE ZONE COMPANY IN TURKEY?

INTRODUCTION

To conduct business in the free zone areas of Turkey, a company must obtain “The Operating License” from the General Directorate of Free Zones of Ministry of Economy. In this article, we will explain our clients how to obtaining their license and establish their company as a free zone company in Turkey in a step-by-step manner. For information about the Turkish free zones and their benefits, you can read our relevant article: https://www.alfa-hukuk.com/post/freezones-in-turkey .

APPLICATION PROCESS

1. PREPARING THE APPLICATION FORM:

According to “The Free Zone Law”, the applicant first must fill the application form obtained from the internet site of the Ministry of Economy. The contents of this form include:

- The formal name of the applicant company

- The ID information of the authorized personnel

- The free zone that the company wants to conduct business in

- One sector of activity (If the company will conduct business in multiple sectors, each sector will have to be applied for in a different application)

- Number of employees of the company who will be employed in the free zone

- Operating expenses (Estimated values will be submitted)

- Detailed information regarding the company’s business sector

2. PAYING THE APPLICATION FEE:

Before submitting the form, the company will have pay the application fee of 5000 USD to the bank account of the Turkish Central Bank. In the statements part of the bank receipt, the applicant has to explain that the fee is for obtaining an operating license for a Free Zone in Turkey.

3. SUBMITTING YOUR PETITION:

With the form explained above, the applicant must submit some documents to the General Directorate of Free Zones. The required documents for the submission are:

- Informative article regarding the investment and the economic benefits it will bring to Turkish economy

- Authorized signatory list

- Other authorization documents for the representative of the company

- Proclamation document of the establishment of the company

- Balance sheets of the last 3 years

- Profit and loss tables

- Bank receipt which proves that the certificate fee had been paid to the account of the Turkish Central Bank

- Documents (If there are) to prove the total amount of foreign currency your company brought to Turkey

- Receipt of permit from the Ministry of Economy if the company will be active in the finance sector

4. EVALUATION OF YOUR APPLICATION:

After the submission of the application form and the required documents, your application will be evaluated by the General Directorate of Free Zones of Ministry of Economy. The authorities will check the application form if it is correctly filled, the documents if they are complete and the bank receipt to control if the application fee had been paid or not.

The General Directorate will also evaluate your application from an economic perspective. They will determine if the company’s activities will benefit Turkey economically or not.

If the directorate accepts the application, the company will be able to rent a land or property in the free zone. If the application is rejected by the directorate, the application fee will be paid back to the company.

5. RENTING PROCESS:

When the application is accepted by the authorities, the company is under the obligation of making a rental contract with either a company in the Free Zone which have a renting license, or the general management of the free zone.

6. SUBMITTING TO THE REGIONAL MANAGEMENT:

The company has to submit to the regional management of the free zone with the rental contract that it has signed. The contract has to be approved by the regional management for the company to complete the entire process.

7. OBTAINING THE OPERATION CERTIFICATE:

After the approval of the rental contract, the regional management will send the contract to the general directory. Finally, if all the steps above are completed by the company, the general directorate will provide the company with “The Operating License”. After obtaining the license, the company will be able to start commercial activities.