I. INTRODUCTION
The Communiqué, based on the provisions of the Law and the Agricultural Products Licensed Warehousing Regulation, regulates the application processes for establishment, branch opening, and capacity increase permits to be granted to licensed warehouse enterprises, as well as the core evaluation criteria and renewal principles applicable to such applications.
With the new framework, the administration has shifted from a system based solely on the formal review of application documents to a planned capacity management regime in which substantive factors such as regional production capacity, market saturation, and operational independence are assessed under an economic need and efficiency test. In this context, applications are classified on a district basis, and locational restrictions are introduced, including the annual closed district list and the prohibition of investments within Organized Industrial Zones. Furthermore, operational isolation is reinforced through explicit prohibitions on unlicensed silos, physical integration with production facilities, and the use of third-party structures and equipment.
This Brief examines the new permit procedures, operational restrictions, and the strategic compliance considerations arising for institutional investors under the Communiqué.
II. NEW PROCEDURES AND EVALUATION PRINCIPLES FOR PERMIT APPLICATIONS
Articles 5 and the following of the Communiqué have subjected the administrative functioning and evaluation mechanisms of the application processes to detailed and definitive rules.
1. Submission of Applications and Finalization of Formal Requirements
Applications for establishment, branch opening, and capacity increase permits shall be submitted to the Provincial Directorates of Trade, classified at the district level where the investment is intended. The Communiqué mandates that the conditions stipulated in the legislation be fully met and the relevant documents be submitted “in full”. Applications with missing documents will not be accepted by the provincial directorate; only those deemed complete will be registered in the provincial directorate’s document system and forwarded to the General Directorate of Domestic Trade (“General Directorate”). This is intended to ensure that the process operates in a transparent and sequential manner.
2. Evaluation of Permit Applications and the Economic Need Test
Applications accepted as complete by the provincial directorates are forwarded to the General Directorate for evaluation according to their order of entry into the document system. An annual application tracking order is established for each district at the General Directorate. However, the primary determinant in the evaluation process is not merely this order, but a comprehensive “economic need and efficiency” assessment conducted by the administration.
In this context, the Ministry will consider the following objective criteria in the permit processes:
(a) The production volume of storable agricultural products in the province/district where the investment is planned.
(b) The number of licensed warehouse enterprise establishment and operating permits previously granted in the region and the capacities of these facilities.
(c) The current occupancy rates of licensed warehouses already in operation.
(d) The presence of logistical factors such as ports and organized industrial zones that affect the industrial and commercial structure and commercial activity of the province or district.
3. Administrative Scrutiny of Corporate Reputation
Pursuant to the Communiqué, the Ministry examines not only convictions for formal offenses specified in the laws but also directly investigates whether the shareholders and managers of the companies applying for an establishment permit comply with the conditions set forth in Article 7 of the Law, supported by evidentiary documents, and whether there exists any situation that “directly or indirectly undermines trust and commercial reputation.” The Ministry may, where necessary, request opinions and evaluations from relevant public institutions and organizations for establishment, branch opening, and capacity increase permit applications. This provides the administration with broad discretionary power in assessing the commercial and financial merits of investors.
4. Renewal of Permit Applications and Forfeiture Periods
A periodic renewal requirement has been introduced for files that are in the application process but have not yet been finalized or have been rejected. According to the Communiqué, a renewal request for such applications must be submitted annually between October 1 and November 15. If the renewal process is not completed within this period, the applicant will lose their position in the application tracking order held at the General Directorate. This regulation acts as a definitive forfeiture period, ensuring that passive applications are purged from the system.
III. INVESTMENT PROHIBITIONS AND LOCATIONAL RESTRICTIONS
The Communiqué has introduced locational restrictions to prevent the formation of idle capacity in the market and to ensure the efficient use of industrial areas.
1. Publication of the Closed Districts List
The Ministry will publish on its website in January of each year a list of provinces and districts that have reached sufficient capacity based on the economic need and efficiency criteria, and for which new establishment, branch opening, or capacity increase permits will not be granted for that year. Applications for regions included in this list will be rejected by the provincial directorates without being reviewed on the principals. The list may be updated during the year according to market conditions.
2. Prohibition of Licensed Warehouses in Organized Industrial Zones
One of the most significant structural changes introduced by the Communiqué is the prohibition of new licensed warehouse investments within Organized Industrial Zones, as defined under the Organized Industrial Zones Law No. 4562. This prohibition, introduced to allocate industrial parcels to projects focused on production and high employment, excludes enterprises that had obtained an establishment permit and commenced construction before the effective date of the Communiqué.
IV. LEASE AGREEMENTS AND REAL ESTATE USE
In cases where the facility is established on leased property, notification obligations have been tightened to increase legal reliability. If the company that has obtained the establishment permit is the lessee of the immovable property on which the facilities will be constructed, it is mandatory to submit the current lease agreement to the Ministry in a “notarized” form within one year at the latest following the permit. Any amendments to the lease agreements must also be notified to the Ministry within one month.
V. OPERATIONAL ISOLATION: PROHIBITION OF UNLICENSED STORAGE AND INTEGRATED FACILITIES
Article 10 of the Communiqué establishes a physical “isolation” system to prevent product commingling and operational malpractices within the licensed warehousing ecosystem.
(a) Prohibition of Unlicensed Silos: The presence of any silo or reinforced concrete warehouse not included in the license capacity (with the exception of wet product silos for corn drying purposes) within the facility’s boundaries is explicitly prohibited.
(b) Severance of Connections: Physical connections that enable product transfer between silos excluded from the license scope for any reason and licensed silos must be completely severed, and these out-of-scope silos must be deleted from the automation system in a way that prevents any operations.
(c) Vertical Integration and Prohibition of Common Structures-Equipment: For companies permitted after the Communiqué, the presence of factories or production facilities that use products subject to licensed warehousing as inputs within their facilities is prohibited. Similarly, the presence of any structure or equipment belonging to the licensed warehouse company or any other enterprise within the facility site is also explicitly prohibited. This regulation does not limit the scope of the integration prohibition only to factories and production facilities but also includes any third-party structures and equipment within the facility.
(d) Physical Independence: It is stipulated that a separation must be ensured between the licensed warehouse site and the sites of other enterprises to prevent direct passage. The entrance gates of both facilities must be completely independent, and the conveying equipment used for the entry and exit of products to the warehouse must be different and have no connection with each other.
VI. TRANSITIONAL PROVISIONS AND ENTRY INTO FORCE
A very short transition period has been stipulated in the Communiqué to ensure the swift completion of administrative compliance processes. It is a legal obligation for applicants who had applied to the Ministry before the Communiqué’s entry into force on March 11, 2026, or whose applications were rejected or are still pending, to submit a request renewal application within “one month” from the date of the Communiqué’s publication.
VII. CONCLUSION
With the Communiqué, the free market entry conditions in the field of agricultural products licensed warehousing have evolved into a new supervision model centered on the administration’s macroeconomic planning authority. The investment prohibitions in Organized Industrial Zones, the closed district implementation, and the on-site operational isolation requirements necessitate that investor companies conduct not only a financial feasibility study but also a strict legal and technical compliance process. It is of strategic importance for enterprises currently operating in the sector or planning new investments to promptly review their location, architectural planning, and administrative application timelines in light of these new criteria.
B. KEY TAKEAWAYS
(1)Applications for establishment, branch opening, and capacity increase permits will be classified at the district level; for an application to be accepted by the provincial directorate, it is mandatory that the necessary conditions are fully met and the documents are submitted in full. Applications with missing documents will not be accepted by the provincial directorate; only those accepted as complete will be registered in the document system and forwarded to the General Directorate.
(2)In evaluating applications, the General Directorate will apply an “economic need and efficiency” test that goes beyond mere sequencing, covering the region’s production volume, current capacity saturation, and logistical capabilities.
(3)In the permit approval processes, the administration has the authority to scrutinize not only the legal criminal records of the company’s shareholders and managers but also their commercial reputation and reliability; it may, where necessary, request opinions and evaluations from relevant public institutions and organizations.
(4)It has been made mandatory to renew pending applications annually between October 1 and November 15; failure to do so will result in the loss of the acquired position in the application tracking order due to the forfeiture period.
(5)The Ministry will announce the lists of “closed districts” where new investment permits will not be granted in January of each year on its website.
(6)Following the publication of the Communiqué, it is prohibited to make licensed warehouse investments within the boundaries of Organized Industrial Zones, with the exception of projects that had obtained an establishment permit and commenced construction before the Communiqué’s effective date.
(7)A principle of full isolation in the internal operations of facilities has been adopted; the presence of unlicensed silos on the same site and the use of common passages or conveying equipment between the licensed warehouse area and integrated factories that use stored products as inputs are prohibited.
(8)The one-month renewal period granted to applicants for existing pending or rejected files is of critical importance to prevent the loss of rights.
(9)For companies permitted after the Communiqué, it is prohibited to have not only integrated factories and production facilities but also any structure or equipment belonging to the licensed warehouse company or any other enterprise within the facility site. This regulation creates a comprehensive physical separation obligation that takes on-site operational isolation far beyond the factory prohibition.
(10)The Communiqué addresses establishment, branch opening, and capacity increase permit applications as independent categories at the district level, creating a separate application tracking order for each permit. This structure obliges investors applying for more than one permit type in the same district to manage each file as an independent process and to track renewal obligations separately for each.
