On 28 June 2021, Turkey has published Presidential Decision No. 4191 in the Official Gazette. With Presidential Decision No. 4191, Amendments have been made in the Decision No. 2012/3305 on State Aids in Investments. Important changes were made in the Decision, which regulates the incentives provided to investments. The main changes can be found in the following sections:

  • The description of environmental investment has been changed. It is defined as the investments that can provide at least 15% water saving or emission/waste reduction.
  • Minimum fixed investment amounts increased from TRY 1 million to TRY 3 million for investments in 1st and 2nd regions; and from TRY 500,000 to TRY 1.5 million for investment in 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th regions.
  • The total amount of the machinery and equipment subject to financial leasing in investments to be made by financial leasing method is a minimum of TRY 750,000 in regions 1, 2, 3 and 4 for each financial leasing company, and in regions 5 and 6 it is stated that it should be minimum TRY 500,000.
  • The rate of intangible assets (brand, license, know-how, etc.) accepted as investment expenditure within the scope of the incentive certificate is limited to 25% of the total fixed investment amount registered in the incentive certificate.
  • The conditions required for the defense industry investments to be qualified as strategic investments.
    • Provision of subparagraph (c) of the 1st paragraph in investments for the production of products that are not produced in the country (Total import amount realized in the last year regarding the product subject to investment is over 50 million USD);
    • In refinery and petrochemical investments, the provision of subparagraph (c) (within the framework of the principles to be determined by the Ministry, the added value to be provided by the investment subject to the certificate must be at least 40%); and
    • For investments in the defense industry to be realized with the project approval to be obtained from the Presidency of Defense Industries, (b) (Total domestic production capacity of the product subject to investment is less than imports) and (ç) (Within the framework of the principles to be determined by the Ministry, the added value to be provided by the investment subject to the certificate is at least 40%) provisions of subparagraph are not sought, was changed to.
  • The interest and dividend support is to increase the fixed investment amount from 5% to 10% in other strategic investments other than the strategic investments that were decided to be supported within the scope of the Technology-Oriented Industry Move Program, the upper limits for the amount of interest or profit share support, the numerical upper limit for all strategic investments to be increased from TRY 50 Million to TRY 75 Million.
  • In case of natural and biological disasters such as earthquakes and epidemics, investments that are incomplete or that cannot be completed are subject to an additional period of up to one year, if requested, in order to complete the investments within the scope of investment incentive certificates issued before 11 March 2020 and expired as of this date. The additional period was extended up to two years with the amendment made.
  • Investments that will not be encouraged, incentives have been provided for plantation investments in a minimum area of ​​one hundred hectares for pulp production within the framework of the relevant legislation provisions determined by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. The amendment entered into force as of the publication date of the Decision.
  • Minimum investment amounts or capacities by sectors and regions that can benefit from regional sectors” in Annex-2A of the Decision No. 2012/3305 has been updated and will enter into force on 1 January 2022.