Road transport restrictions, freedom of transit and the Trade Facilitation Agreement: The case of Turkey

This chapter argues that restrictions, including quotas and stringent permit systems, employed by some EU member states on road transport and transit run by Turkish road operators, are important barriers to Turkish exporters. Mindful of the parties’ failure to overcome this major obstacle despite the customs union which has existed between them since 1995, this chapter seeks to shed light on how trade can be significantly hampered by such restrictions, and explores the ways in which WTO legal instruments, in particular Article V (“Freedom of Transit”) of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and recently Article 11 (“Freedom of Transit”) of the Trade Facilitation Agreement can come into play to liberalize trade.