ADMD/Mavioglu & Alkan Law Office

With the technology developing gradually, it is becoming a great importance to be able to sign various documents and agreements electronically, and as a result of the efforts to harmonize Turkish Law with the European Union (EU) acquis, an Electronic Signature ("e-Signature") system was established with the Electronic Signature Law No. 5070 for document processing.

Günden güne gelişen teknoloji ile birlikte çeşitli belge ve sözleşmelerin elektronik ortamda imzalanabilmesi önem arz etmiş ve belge işleme sürecini pratikleştirmek amacıyla Türk Hukuku’nu Avrupa Birliği (AB) müktesebatı ile uyumlaştırma çabalarının da bir sonucu olarak 5070 sayılı Elektronik İmza Kanunu ile Elektronik İmza (“e-İmza”) sistemi kurulmuştur.

With Law No. 7438 on the Amendment of the Social Security and General Health Insurance Law and Decree No. 375 ("Law No. 7438") published in the Official Gazette dated March 3, 2023, and numbered 32121, various amendments were made for employees who fail to meet the age requirements for retirement ("EYT- Emeklilikte Yaşa Takılanlar in Turkish") although their insurance terms and premium days are complete. The aforementioned Law paves the way for early retirement and entitlement to retirement pensions for such employees. The significant amendments introduced by the Law are detailed below.

Eski adıyla izale-i şüyu olarak bilinen ortaklığın giderilmesi davası, paylı mülkiyete veya elbirliği ile mülkiyete konu olan taşınır/taşınmaz malın, haklı bir sebebin varlığına gerek duyulmaksızın paydaşlardan her birinin paylaşma talebinde bulunması sonucu ortaya çıkan bir dava türüdür. Bu dava türü, ülkemizdeki miras hukuku kapsamındaki mülkiyet paylaşımları doğrultusunda, en yaygın olarak açılan davalardan biridir.

Litigation for the dissolution/elimination of joint ownership of properties, also called  partition lawsuits (‘izale-i suyu davalari’ in Turkish), are type of cases that arise as a result of the will of any joint owner to dissolve the co-ownership status over a movable or immovable property subject to co-ownership or joint ownership without the need for a justified reason. This type of lawsuits are one of the most common in Turkey in line with the ownership shares within the scope of inheritance law. When the joint-owners “owners” wish to dissolve the existing joint ownership and actually share the property; they may choose to share it consensually by executing an agreement among themselves. However, if the agreement option is not possible, each of the owners has the right to ask for the division of such assets according to Article 698/1 of the Turkish Civil Code (TMK) No. 4721. Such right for seeking dissolution of joint ownership is inherent within the share and there is no threshold for ownership ratio in effect. Therefore, any shareholder in such sense could make the filing.

EU Law, Council Regulation (EC) No 2201/2003 The instrument that governs jurisdiction in matrimonial matters and parental responsibility in the EU Member States is the Council Regulation (EC) No 2201/2003 of November 27, 2003, concerning jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments in matrimonial matters and the matters of parental responsibility. The Regulation's ‘universality’ means that these provisions apply regardless of whether the spouses are nationals of an EU Member State or not.

The concept of competition is defined in doctrine as the relationship between enterprises that sell the same type of goods or services to a consumer group at the same time. In accordance with this definition, competition law could be possibly defined as a branch of law that includes regulatory, supervisory, and prohibitive norms to prevent competition violations in order to ensure economic efficiency, to create and maintain the free competition order in the goods and service markets, and to resolve competition violations.

Mutual Rescission/Termination (Ikale) of Employment Agreements Mutual rescission or mutual termination agreement is an agreement that terminates the labor contract based on the mutual consent of the parties (ikale). Mutual rescission/termination agreement is not regulated under any specific law and in principle could be established in line with the freedom of contract principle and therefore the establishment and validity of the mutual rescission agreements are subject to the provisions of the Turkish Code of Obligations (“TCO”). Accordingly, when executing a mutual rescission/termination agreement, one of the parties shall explain to the other party its desire to terminate the labor contract, in other words, make an offer and the other party shall accept it. In Turkish law practice, mutual rescission/termination agreements are used for the termination of the employment contracts of employees who are eligible to the right of “reinstatement” within the scope of occupational safety regulations, and they are used to pay the compensatory rights subject to such possible reinstatement claims in advance.

Work Permits in Poland Work permit exemptions Citizens of the Member States of the European Union or the European Economic Area, as well as citizens of Switzerland - in contrast to citizens of so-called third countries - enjoy a special status in terms of the possibility to legally take up employment in Poland, which results from the freedom of movement of workers. The basic principles of the free movement of workers:

EU Regulation 2017/2394 of the European Parliament and of the EU Council regulation of December 12, 2017, on cooperation between national authorities responsible for the enforcement of consumer protection (and repealing Regulation (EC) No 2006/2004), obliged the Member States to modify their internal laws. The primary goal of the EU’s regulation mentioned above is to adapt regulations to the rapid development of technology in consumption environment. A proposal for the Amendment of the Act on Competition and Consumer Protection was introduced on September 23, 2020, to adapt Polish provisions to the EU laws. The amendment was not a civic project, but an initiative of the President of UOKiK. UOKiK is the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection in Poland. The Office is responsible for shaping antitrust policy and consumer protection. The legislative process of the amendment is currently pending and is expected to be finalized within 2022.

In the last three decades, the ongoing digital (r)evolution and the growth in (cross-border) flows of personal data among and between public and private actors have increased the need to safeguard the fundamental rights of individuals. As a result, laws protecting most notably the right to privacy have been enacted in the EU and beyond and although the contents may vary, such legislation typically saves the same purpose: to protect fundamental rights and freedoms of people with respect to the processing of personal data and to outline obligations, principles, and procedures for natural or legal persons who process such data.

INTRODUCTION Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is a principle developed on the idea that the use of resources spent to clean, repair and re-balance a polluted or destroyed environment after the fact, being less efficient than the use of resources spent for prevention of the negative impacts concerning the investments for development at the beginning.

As per Article 14 of the Labor Law No. 4587 (Law), remote work (employment) shall be defined as an employment relationship based on the principle that the employee fulfills his/her work performance within the scope of the work organization created by the employer at home or outside the workplace utilizing technological communication. Regulation on Remote Work (Regulation) which set outs the procedures and principles for remote work that may be preferred at these times of Covid-19 pandemic by introducing more detailed provisions on remote work in comparison to already existing Article 14 of the Law is published and entered into force in the Official Gazette numbered 31419 as of March 10, 2021. 

Joint-stock companies with a registered capital equal to 5 (five) times or more of the minimum amount stipulated in Article 272 of the Turkish Commercial Code and building cooperatives with a membership number of 100 (one-hundred) or more are obliged to have/employ a contracted lawyer. Legal entities failing to comply with the provisions of this paragraph will be penalized by public prosecutors with a fine in the gross amount of one month’s minimum wage, effective for workers in the industrial sector older than sixteen years of age on the date of the crime, for each month spent without a lawyer under contract.

With the Statutory Decree No.671 dated August 17, 2016, and the recent changes with Regulations No.29987 and No.29824 on Regulation Regarding an Amendment on Placement to Open Punishment Execution Facilities effecting execution of the Law No.5275 on Punishment Execution Law has introduced significant changes.

Law No. 7036 Code of Labor Courts (‘Law’) published in the Official Gazette No. 30221 dated October 25, 2017; introduced fundamental changes in the settlement of labor disputes and abrogated the previous law on the subject Law No. 5521. The radical changes implemented with the Law No. 7036 are summarized below.

The employees are entitled to terminate their employment contracts, whether the contract is for a definite or indefinite period, before its expiry or without having to observe specified notice periods in case of serious and important reasons determined in the Article 24 of the Labor Law No. 4857 (the “Labor Law”).

Regional Courts of Appeals started to operate as from July 20, 2016 and the Turkish Legal System adopted one more instance to its two (2) instance system, being transformed to a three (3) stage system. In the new system, Regional Courts of Appeals operates as second instance and the Supreme Court of Appeals is the third instance.

Law on Pledges over Movable Property in Commercial Transactions No. 6750 is published in the Official Gazette No. 29871 and dated October 28, 2016 and entered into force as of January 1, 2017. Law on Pledges over Movable Property in Commercial Transactions No. 6750 abolished the Commercial Enterprise Pledges Law No. 1447 and dated July 21, 1971 and introduced many new innovations to movable pledges. However, Commercial Enterprise Pledges Law No. 1447 will remain applicable for commercial enterprise pledges that are already established before 1 January 2017. There are some similar implementations between immovable pledges (mortgages) in the Turkish Civil Code and non-delivery movable pledges in commercial transactions. The main purpose of this law could be stated as to increase the use of non-delivery movable pledge rights as assurance and facilitating the access to sources of financing for the Small Medium Enterprise’s (“SME”)

Turkey adopted a new regulation for personal and private data protection.