Turkey's Ongoing Decline In Corruption Perception Index
Transparency International’s annual report 2022 Corruption Perceptions Index (“CPI 2022”), aiming to measure the perceived level of public sector corruption based on various sources with the contributions of businesspeople, NGOs and country experts, was released on January 31, 2023. The index ranks 180 countries/territories by their perceived level of public sector corruption on a scale from 0 (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean). CPI is regarded as one of the most credible… »
Notification Obligation to Tax Office for Registered Transactions in the Trade Registry is Abolished
The General Communiqué no. 546 on Tax Procedural Law (the "Communiqué") which determines the procedures and principles regarding the acceptance of the notifications made electronically by the Ministry of Trade to the Ministry of Treasury and Finance (the "Ministry") from the transactions registered in the trade registry as notifications made by taxpayers was published in the Official Gazette dated 18 January 2023, to be effective as of 1 February 2023. Within the scope of the… »
Amendment to Press Labour Law
Under Turkish law, journalists are subject to Law No. 5953 on Arrangement of Relations Between Employers and Employees in the Field of Press (“Press Labour Law”), which sets out the terms and conditions of their employment. Former wording of Article 1 of Press Labour Law stated that the law covered those who work in any kind of intellectual or artistic works at news and photo agencies, periodical publications and newspapers published in Turkey and who fall outside the… »
Cyber Insurance and Insuring NFTs
With the frequent occurrence of cyber-attacks, having insurance coverage against these attacks has become increasingly crucial, and many insurance companies have started to provide cybersecurity insurance services. Like cryptocurrencies, NFTs which are digital assets with a specific value, are based on blockchain technology and stored in the blockchain. The blockchain is a database containing records that, once added, are almost impossible to change and is a digital ledger… »
New Regulation on Named Patient Programs is Published
Pharmaceuticals that are not authorized in Turkey and/or not available in the market despite being authorized, shall be procured from abroad upon request of physicians and special authorization in cases where patients require such pharmaceuticals. Until recently, this exceptional import regime for pharmaceuticals was regulated by the Guideline on the Supply of Pharmaceuticals from Abroad published by the Turkish Medicines and Medical Devices Agency ("Agency"). On February 3… »
Proof of Bad Faith: The Turkish Court of Cassation Adopts a Surprising Stance
Güldeniz Doğan Alkan and Cansu Evren of Gün + Partners say that a recent ruling raises the question of how many trademarks should be imitated for an act of bad faith to be recognised In a case, the Turkish Civil IP Court decided for the invalidation of a trademark registration identical to the plaintiff’s mark and trade name. The decision noted that: The plaintiff held a registration for the same class in the EU (but not in Turkey) before the trademark at issue; and The… »