Transporters' Association Condemns Bulgaria's Imposing Transit Fees On Turkish Lorries

ISTANBUL - International Transporters' Association (UND) condemned Friday Bulgaria's recently adopted regulation on collection of transit fees from Turkish lorries.
Such implementation is "a heavy blow on Turkish exporters and transporters," UND said in a newspaper announcement on Friday.
Bulgaria, following its accession to EU, unilaterally cancelled its transportation agreement with Turkey and brought a "quota" criterion for Turkish transporters. On June 28th 2008, the country started to charge Turkish lorries a certain fee for transits as well.
UND said that such a unilateral implementation was a violation of Article 5 of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and the "freedom of transit" principle envisaged by the World Trade Organization (WTO).
"This implementation has caused a 100 million USD loss for our country's economy so far," UND said.
The association also said that it hoped the Bulgarian government would give up its unfair treatment soon.
(DO-MS)
(ECO)