Alcohol regulator nears end

ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News

The government is working to close the national Tobacco and Alcohol Market Regulatory Authority (TAPDK), distributing the market regulator’s responsibilities to three separate ministries.

The Food, Agriculture and Husbandry Ministry, the Health Ministry, and the Finance Ministry will undertake the related tasks, Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan said earlier this week. The regulator is already preparing a new draft to end TAPDK and is also suggesting new positions for the current employees, he added.

Turkey had earlier privatized its tobacco and alcohol production facilities, which had been establishing
a monopoly.

“When the government was in the business, such a body was perhaps necessary, but today everything is handed out to the private sector. Thus, such a committee for alcohol and tobacco has lost its reason for existence,” Babacan said.

“This was a widely expected decision,” said economist Erdal Sağlam in daily Radikal yesterday. “In other words, the committee has been unsuccessful in its efforts, so in a way it has terminated itself.”

The structure of the sector also played a role in the termination, as the tobacco and alcohol sectors do not require an independent authority to attract foreign investment, unlike banking for example, Sağlam added.