Articles

Significant Amendments to Preliminary Examination

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Dispute Management || Beril Yayla Sapan and Kardelen Özden

Civil Procedure Code No. 6100 (“CPC”) entered into force on 01 October 2011 by replacing the former Civil Procedure Code No. 1086. One of the most significant mechanisms introduced by the CPC was preliminary examination. Under Turkish law, first stage of a trial is the initiation of a lawsuit and exchange of petitions, which is followed by the preliminary examination. During the preliminary examination, the court examines the causes of action, initial objections, points of di...»

Judicial Review of Board Decisions

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Data Protection and Privacy || Gün + Partners

The Data Protection Law does not include an explicit provision concerning the appeal process of Board decisions imposing administrative fines; however, it is accepted that criminal courts of peace are the authorized courts pursuant to Law No. 5326 on Misdemeanours dated 30/3/2005 since the title of Article 18 of the Data Protection Law is “Misdemeanours,” and administrative fines are issued as per Article 18 of the Data Protection Law. Having this in mind, decisions imposing ...»

Consequences of Data Breach

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Data Protection and Privacy || Gün + Partners

The Data Protection Law envisages both administrative fines and criminal liability.   With regard to criminal penalties, the Data Protection Law refers to the relevant provisions of the Turkish Criminal Code that detail sanctions for the unlawful recording, or disclosing, or transferring of personal data. In addition to criminal sanctions, the Data Protection Law also contains provisions detailing administrative fines that are to be applied in the event of a breach. There are...»

Data Controllers’ Registry (VERBIS)

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Data Protection and Privacy || Gün + Partners

Pursuant to Article 16 of the Data Protection Law, an obligation to register in the Data Controllers Registry has been introduced for data controllers. In 2018, the Board issued decisions granting exemptions from registration obligation to certain professional groups, associations, and political parties. The Board also granted a general exemption to local data controllers that have less than 50 employees, and actively less than TRY 25 million on their balance sheets. Data con...»

Data Breach Notification

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Data Protection and Privacy || Gün + Partners

The Data Protection Law requires data controllers to notify the relevant data subject and the Board as soon as possible when being made aware of such data breach. In its decision dated January 24, 2019 and numbered 2019/9, the Board clarified the rules and procedures to be applied in data breach incidents. The Board takes the GDPR approach in terms of timing of breach notifications, and clarified that the term of “as soon as possible” within the Data Protection Law must be in...»

Transfer of Data Abroad

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Data Protection and Privacy || Gün + Partners

Sensitive and non-sensitive personal data can be transferred abroad if the explicit consent of the data subject is obtained. Furthermore, other legal grounds will also apply to the transfer of personal data to the foreign country. However, the destination country must have “sufficient protection” in order to conclude the transfer abroad based on legal grounds (except for having obtained explicit consent). A list of jurisdictions that provide sufficient protection is to be det...»

Transfer of Data to Third Party

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Data Protection and Privacy || Gün + Partners

Sensitive and non-sensitive personal data may be transferred to third parties if the explicit consent of the data subject is obtained, or if one of the additional legal grounds is applicable for such transfer. The Data Protection Law does not provide a definition for a third party; therefore, any individual or entity (other than the data controller and the data subject) may be considered a third party. This creates a problem, especially in relation to transfers between data c...»

Explicit Consent under Data Protection Law

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Data Protection and Privacy || Gün + Partners

Explicit consent has been defined as consent that relates to a specified issue, declared by free will, and based on information. The definition provides that not all kinds of consent will suffice under the Data Protection Law. The data subject must know for what he/she is providing consent, and must clearly express his/her consent. For example, consent obtained in English from non-English speakers in Turkey would not be considered to be explicit consent. Further, implied cons...»

Lawful Data Processing

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Data Protection and Privacy || Gün + Partners

Processing Personal Data Personal data can be processed based on the below specified legal grounds: If explicit consent of the data subject is obtained; If processing is clearly proposed under the laws; If processing is mandatory for the protection of life, or to prevent the physical injury of a person, in cases where that person cannot express consent, or whose consent is legally invalid due to physical disabilities; If processing is necessary for and directly related to th...»

Application of the Data Protection Law

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Data Protection and Privacy || Gün + Partners

The Data Protection Law applies to data controllers who process and transfer personal data. In the situation where data controllers utilise the services of third-party data processors for these processes, the law holds them jointly liable for taking all of the technical and administrative measures required to ensure the safeguarding of personal data and to prevent any unlawful access or processing. The Data Protection Law does not envisage the scope of its application in term...»

Data Protection Law in General

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Data Protection and Privacy || Gün + Partners

On April 7, 2016, a new law on the protection of personal data came into force in Turkey: The Law on the Protection of Personal Data numbered 6698 (“Data Protection Law”). It is the first law of its kind in Turkey, specifically regulating the protection of personal data. The Data Protection Law is a step towards harmonizing Turkish legislation with EU legislation, and it was prepared based on Directive 95/46/EC on data protection (“Data Protection Directive”). The Data Protec...»

Cross-border IP Right Assignments 2021 in Turkey

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Trademarks and Designs and IP Prosecution || Mutlu Yıldırım Köse and Pınar Arıkan

Key aspects of intellectual property right assignments Definition of IP Rights Does the definition of "Intellectual Property Rights" in Standard document, Assignment of intellectual property rights: Cross-border: clause 1.1 include any rights that are not recognised in your jurisdiction? If yes, what are those rights? Standard document, Assignment of intellectual property rights: Cross-border: clause 1.1 does not include any rights that are not recognised in Turkey Shou...»