In the harmonization period of Turkey to European Union, the topics of quality, certification and standardization which need to increase olive oil export

ABSTRACT The objective of this thesis was to display the technical obstacles and to determine the important steps in the harmonization period of Turkey to European Union. With this objective, the topics of quality, certification and standardization, which improve the exportation of olive oil were taken into consideration. Quality, certification and standardization are the important topics which help exporting firms to compete in the European Union markets and increase export volume in the harmonization period of Turkey to the European Union. Conformity of quality, certification and standardization have great significance since they remove obstacles in international trade, increase trade volume, protect the prestige of exported goods in foreign markets and prevent the repetition of control procedures (experiment, certification) in the importer country. The study consists of three parts. The first part deal with the basic concepts of European Union and Customs Union, Turkey's relations with European Union, Customs Union period of Turkey, quality, certification and standardization and current position of world olive oil sector. The second part includes the presentation of Turkey's olive oil sector, showing the technical obstacles related with olive oil exportation, and harmonization studies for the purpose of examining in detail the quality, certification and standardization efforts. A field study about the Turkish olive oil sector forms the third part of the research. The field study was built on an exploratory and descriptive model and the population of the survey consisted of 35 firms which both produce and export olive oil in Turkey. Ouestionnaries were developed as a means of data collection and reply rate was % 77. The research findings were discussed and evaluated under six topics - the olive oil production and exportation of the firms, exporting markets, production standards, quality and certification facilities, the obstacles faced in export, certification results and information of firms. XI