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Significant Amendments to the Administrative Jurisdiction Procedure Law

The Law Amending the Criminal Procedure Code and Certain Other Laws No. 7331 (“Law No. 7331”) -known as the 4th Judicial Reform Package - which entered into force by publication in the Official Gazette dated July 14, 2021, significantly reduced the time limits foreseen in the Administrative Jurisdiction Procedure Law No. 2577 (“Law No. 2577”) in terms of the administrative authorities in the application procedures before filing of administrative actions. Accordingly:

  • As per Article 10 of the Law No. 2577, individuals may apply to administrative authorities to perform an act or action that might be subject to an administrative action. Administrative authorities previously had 60 days to respond to these requests and the Law No. 7331 reduced this response period of the administration to 30 days. At the end of this period, the applicant may deem the silence of administrative authorities a refusal and file an action against this refusal. In case the administration’s response is timely but not final, the applicant can either deem this response a refusal or wait for a final response for 4 months. As such, the waiting period of the applicant is also reduced from 6 months to 4 months.
  • Under Article 11 of the Law No. 2577, individuals wishing to file an action for the annulment of an administrative action can apply to the superior authority of the authority that has issued the administrative action or, if there is no such superior authority, directly to the same authority, with the request for the removal, withdrawal, amendment of the action in question or for the performance of a new administrative action. In accordance with the recent legislation, administrative authorities now have to respond to these applications within 30 days rather than 60. If not responded within 30 days, the time period to file an action before the courts which was suspended with the application would resume.
  • Article 13 of the Law No. 2577 sets out that those whose rights have been violated by an administrative act and who wish to file a full remedy action for compensation should first apply to the administration for the establishment of their rights, and that if the administration does either entirely or partially reject their request or does not respond, they can then file a compensation action. The time limit foreseen under this article for the administration to respond to such requests was reduced from 60 days to 30 days with the Law No. 7331.
  • According to Provisional Article 10 which was added to the Law No. 2577 with the Law No. 7331, the time limits shortened by the Law No. 7331 shall not apply in terms of the applications made to the administrative bodies under Articles 10, 11 and 13 of the Law No. 2577 before July 14, 2021, the effective date of the Law No. 7331. The previous time limits will continue to apply for these applications.
  • Last, the Law No. 7331 appends to Article 24 of the Law No. 2577 concerning the elements of the decisions to be given by the administrative judicial bodies, for the purpose of accelerating the administrative proceedings, that the decisions taken by the judicial bodies shall be prepared and signed within 30 days following the issuance of the decision.

In conclusion, by virtue of the Law No. 7331, both mandatory and optional procedures to be followed before filing administrative actions have been shortened significantly. Since the administrative bodies’ time limits to respond directly affect the time limits to file administrative actions before courts, these amendments are also of importance in terms of the individuals concerned.

Thanks to Latif Aktaş for his contributions.

First published by ILO - Litigation Newsletter in Aug 31, 2021.


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