On October 1, 2026, Turkey's Ministry of Trade confirmed that the Türkiye-Ukraine Free Trade Agreement (FTA), signed in Kyiv on February 3, 2022, has entered into force following the exchange of instruments of ratification, after Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada ratified the text on July 14, 2026 and Turkey completed its ratification in August 2024. The Ministry's press statement fixes the entry into force on October 1, 2026, while the goods customs-duty arrangements apply from January 1, 2027.
Turkish exporters of industrial and agricultural goods to Ukraine, Ukrainian exporters of industrial goods into Turkey, and the customs brokers and freight operators on the Turkey-Ukraine corridor must prepare preferential origin proofs so their goods claim the FTA duty rate by January 1, 2027, or their shipments will clear at the non-preferential duty instead of the FTA rate or quota. Ukrainian customs preference codes 429 and 430 already apply to Ukrainian-origin exports into Turkey from October 1, 2026, and to Turkish-origin imports into Ukraine from January 1, 2027.
Who has to act, and from when?
The FTA creates two staggered preference start dates that trade-compliance teams must track separately. Ukrainian-origin goods entering Turkey can claim the preferential rate from October 1, 2026, under Ukrainian customs preference codes 429 and 430. Turkish-origin goods entering Ukraine draw the same preference only from January 1, 2027, when the goods customs-duty arrangements take effect. The stagger means Ukrainian exporters can capture the duty benefit immediately, while Turkish exporters to Ukraine hold a preparation window through the end of 2026.
Turkey eliminates import duties on approximately 93.4% of Ukrainian industrial goods and 7.6% of Ukrainian agricultural products under the agreement. The exposed categories on the Turkish side are industrial and agricultural goods shipped into Ukraine; on the Ukrainian side, industrial goods into Turkey. Customs brokers and freight operators on the corridor must update declaration codes and origin documentation on both flows.
What must be in place to claim the preference?
Preference is not automatic at the border: the importer must present a valid preferential origin proof. Under the FTA, the agreed proof is the EUR.1 movement certificate, backed by the bilateral rules of origin. The agreement also sets EUR.1 cumulation, so goods processed in Ukraine from Turkish-origin raw materials, and vice versa, can retain or acquire preferential origin, and it preserves duty-free EU access for goods that incorporate Turkish raw materials and are further processed in Ukraine.
Exporters should confirm, line by line, whether each product meets the origin requirement, either through wholly-obtained status or sufficient processing under the product-specific rules. Preference codes 429 and 430 must be declared in the Ukrainian customs declaration for the relevant flows, and the EUR.1 must be issued by the authorised chamber of commerce and presented at clearance.
| Goods flow | Preference applies from | Origin proof |
|---|---|---|
| Ukrainian-origin goods into Turkey | October 1, 2026 | EUR.1 movement certificate |
| Turkish-origin goods into Ukraine | January 1, 2027 | EUR.1, Ukrainian codes 429/430 |
What happens to shipments without valid origin proof?
Shipments that arrive without a valid preferential origin proof, or with a proof that does not match the declared tariff line, clear at the non-preferential duty instead of the FTA rate or quota. The outcome is a direct cost increase at clearance, not a rejection of the consignment: the goods still enter, but the importer pays the full third-country duty. Turkish customs (Gümrükler Genel Müdürlüğü, under the Ministry of Trade) administers the preference on the Turkish side, and the Ukrainian State Customs Service administers codes 429 and 430 on the Ukrainian side.
What to check now
- Map the HS tariff lines you ship in both directions against the FTA schedules to confirm which goods draw the preference and which fall outside the 93.4% industrial or 7.6% agricultural coverage.
- Verify origin qualification for each product under the bilateral rules, distinguishing wholly-obtained goods from goods that qualify through sufficient processing or cumulation.
- Arrange EUR.1 movement certificate issuance with your chamber of commerce and register as an approved exporter where the self-certification regime applies.
- Update customs declaration templates and ERP export codes to declare preference codes 429 and 430 on the Ukrainian-side flows from the applicable dates.
- Brief customs brokers and logistics partners on the two start dates so declarations from October 1, 2026 (Ukraine-to-Turkey) and January 1, 2027 (Turkey-to-Ukraine) carry the correct proof and code.
Continuous, per-jurisdiction real-time monitoring surfaces a preferential tariff regime the moment it publishes, so trade-compliance teams can act before the first shipment clears.
Verify applicability against your own tariff lines and the FTA origin rules, confirm the January 1, 2027 deadline for Turkish-origin goods into Ukraine, and brief your customs and logistics teams on the documentation they must hold at clearance. Obsidian tracks this agreement and its implementing guidance as the duty arrangements take effect.
