How Does Turkey's Judicial System Fare With Respect to Gender Diversity?
The increasing importance of gender equality and the inclusion of women is a significant indicator of development. One of the goals set out under the Strategic Plan of 2019-2023 issued by the Ministry of Justice is to increase the number of judges, public prosecutors and judicial personnel. The Strategic Plan provides that, as a strategy to achieve this goal, the principle of gender equality in the recruitment of judges, public prosecutors and other personnel will be taken…»
TV Scenes Contrary to Social Gender Equality
Broadcast media is ruled and supervised by the Radio and Television Supreme Council (“RTUK”), an autonomous and impartial public legal entity. The RTUK regulates and supervises the radio, television and on-demand media services, and examines broadcasts, as well as advertisements in light of the provisions of Broadcasting Law No. 6112. The RTUK rendered an important decision to fight against the abuse of women and gender inequality. The RTUK inspected a TV series broadcasted…»
Implementation of Guideline on Social Media Influencers
Social media advertising is mainly regulated under Consumer Protection Law and the Advertising Regulation in Turkey. In 2021, the Advertisement Board drafted Guideline on Commercial Advertisement and Unfair Commercial Practices Conducted by Social Media Influencers” (“Guideline”), which was prepared based on the Consumer Protection Law to serve as a basis for examinations of commercial advertisements and unfair commercial practices run by Social Media Influencers. The Board…»
Amendment to Press Labour Law: ho is Considered a Journalist?
Under Turkish law, journalists are subject to Law No. 5953 on Arrangement of Relations Between Employers and Employees in the Field of Press (the Press Labour Law), which sets out the terms and conditions of their employment. The former wording of article 1 of the 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 those who fall…»
Waiving from IP Rights in the Post-Covid Landscape
Since the pandemic seems to lose its impact and life is returning to normal, it may be a good time to look into the lessons learned so far from the Covid-19 pandemic and make necessary preparations against a possible new one. Indeed, pandemics have been an integral part of human history from the very beginning and diligently addressing the problems and their reasons faced during these times is quite important. However, most of the problems and, most importantly, the reasons…»
Insurance Litigation 2023 in Turkey
ForaIn what fora are insurance disputes litigated? In the Turkish judicial system, in principle, insurance disputes are resolved by the commercial courts, irrespective of the amount or value of the dispute. On the other hand, insurance disputes arising out of maritime law are heard by a specialised commercial court. Insurance disputes to which a consumer is a party are heard by consumer courts. If a province has no specialised or regular commercial court, disputes are heard…»
Pricing of Pharmaceuticals and the Fixed Exchange Rate
Pharmaceutical prices in Turkey have always been one of the most controversial issues. The prices of medicines that are to be marketed are set under the Decision on Pricing of Human Medicinal Products (“Decision”) and the Communiqué on the Pricing of Human Medicinal Products (“Communiqué”) of September 29, 2017, issued by the Ministry, which is vested with the competencies to regulate this area. The Decision provides a reference pricing system, whereby the least-expensive…»
Unified Patent Court - How It Will Resonate in Turkey?
The concept of the Unified Patent Court (“UPC”) entered the lives of European Patent holders with the UPC Agreement, an international agreement dated February 19, 2013. The system is intended to start as of June 01, 2023. The courts in question constitute a big and important step towards ensuring the unity of the judiciary for the European Union member states. With the completion of the approval processes for 17 European Union countries, a few days before the start of the…»
“Plausibility” in Turkish Patent Law and Its Impact on Invalidation Proceedings
The grounds for the invalidation of a patent within the scope of Industrial Property Law No. 6769 are listed per the numerus clausus principle. The concept of plausibility – which has been the subject of numerous evaluations, especially by the European Patent Office (“EPO”) and frequently debated in academic circles in recent years – has not yet found a place within the scope of any legal regulation in Turkey. Moreover, there is no consensus on the Turkish wording that meets…»
Market Access- Alternative Reimbursement Models
For an extended period, the pharmaceutical industry needed a unique model of reimbursement where its conditions could be set together through negotiation with the SSI, and the regular price and reimbursement rules did not apply to innovative products. With the enactment of the Social Security and General Health Insurance Law numbered 6552 in September 2014, alternative reimbursement models also became an essential topic in the Turkish healthcare industry. The complementary…»
Market Availability of Products
The New Regulation on Licensing of Human Medicinal Products prepared by the TMMDA entered into force upon its publication in the Official Gazette numbered 31686 and dated December 11, 2021. It has been seen that the purpose aimed with the Regulation on Licensing of Human Medicinal Products is reflecting up-to-date processes present in the TMMDA practice but did not exist in the previous regulation dated 2005 and provide compatibility of the legislation with the EU directive…»
The Need for an Injunction in Cases Where the EPO Proceeding is held as a Pending Issue
Although there is no explicit provision in Turkish Law for the acceptance of the ongoing opposition or appeal proceedings before the European Patent Office (“EPO”) as a “pending issue” due to the principle of procedural economy, in practice, pending issue decisions may be given by the Civil Courts of Intellectual and Industrial Property Rights according to the particular circumstances. As Turkey is one of the signatory countries to the European Patent Convention, upon the…»