EU Pharmaceutical Package - EU Pharmaceutical Legislative Reform and its Impact on Türkiye
On 26 April 2023, the European Commission (the “Commission”) adopted a proposal for a new Directive and Regulation (the “Proposal”) which revise and replace the existing general pharmaceutical legislation. The proposal adopted by the Commission replaces the existing general pharmaceutical legislation (Regulation 726/2004 and Directive 2001/83/EC) and the legislation on pharmaceuticals for children and rare diseases (Regulation 1901/2006 and Regulation 141/2000/EC… »
Inventorship of AI and Türkiye’s Position
Artificial intelligence has begun taking over roles normally performed by humans with little difficulty, including the act of inventing. As a result, debates on whether artificial intelligence can be the owner of an invention have emerged across the global and are likely to open many novel discussions. The debate on whether an artificial intelligence system can be an inventor began after the development of DABUS, the artificial intelligence system developed by Dr. Stephen… »
Insurance Disputes Comparative Guide
What mechanism do insurance policies usually provide for resolution of coverage disputes? State Courts In Turkish insurance policies, the usual dispute resolution mechanism provided for resolution of coverage disputes is litigation before state courts. As a rule, insurance disputes are resolved before commercial courts. However, insurance disputes regarding maritime law are resolved before specialized courts of maritime and insurances disputes where the insured is a consumer… »
Recent Changes in the Turkish Commercial Code
With the Law no. 7511 Amending the Turkish Commercial Code and Certain other Laws (the “Amendment Law”), which entered into force after being published in the Official Gazette dated 29.05.2024 numbered 32560, amendments are made primarily to the Turkish Commercial Code numbered 6102 (the “TCC”) and other certain laws. We present below the important amendments introduced by the Amendment Law within the scope of the TCC in order to provide convenience to corporate transactions… »
Time Extension Granted: August 7, 2024 - Allocation of Domain Names in Structure of “a.tr”
In addition to domain names such as "com.tr" and "org.tr", which are already being allocated in Türkiye, allocation of domain names in the structure of "a.tr" has also become possible as of September 14, 2023. Domain names in the structure of “a.tr” do not include extensions for generic top-level domains (gTLD) such as ".com", ".net", ".org", etc. but have a direct country code extension of ".tr". The initial allocation of these domain names is carried out by the Information… »
Advertisement Board: Use of Competitors' Trademarks as Keywords Leads to Unfair Competition
Google Adwords / Google Ads, a type of commercial advertising that has emerged as a result of technological developments, allows advertisers to select keywords related to the product or service they offer and to help determine when and where the ad can be displayed. In this context, Google does not automatically prevent the advertiser from using trademarks or commercial names belonging to competitors in their advertisements. In Google Adwords ads, whoever pays the highest… »
Corporate Governance in Türkiye 2024
What are the primary sources of law, regulation and practice relating to corporate governance? Is it mandatory for listed companies to comply with listing rules or do they apply on a ‘comply or explain’ basis? The Turkish Commercial Code (TCC) dated 13 January 2011 (Law No. 6102) entered into force on 1 July 2012. The TCC has important objectives, such as ensuring transparency, adopting corporate governance standards and introducing internationally accepted auditing and… »
Update on Legal Interest, Late Payment Fee and Deferment Interest Rates
Legal Interest Rate According to Article 1 of the Law No. 3095 on Legal Interest and Default Interest (“Law No. 3095”), interests to be paid as per Turkish Code of Obligations and Turkish Commercial Code, shall be made at an annual rate of 12%, unless a different contractual rate is agreed. The president is authorized to adjust this rate on a monthly basis, and to reduce it by up to 10% or increase it up to one time. The legal interest rate was 9% since January 1, 2006… »
Türkiye's Update: Key Changes in Named Patient Program
Pharmaceuticals that are not authorized in Türkiye or authorized but not available on the market shall be procured from abroad as per a special authorization and on a case by case basis (Named Patient Program-NPP). This supply can be conducted by public institutions approved by the Ministry of Health that are defined as Foreign Pharmaceutical Suppliers (Suppliers) and currently constitute of the Social Security Institution and the Turkish Pharmacists Association. The… »
Latest Developments on Administrative Revocation of Trademarks!
While the relevant article regulating the transfer of authority to examine the requests for revocation of trademarks to the Turkish Patent and Trademark Office (“the Office”) was not yet entered into force and there were still a level of uncertainty concerning the procedure, the first development in this regard took place on October 23, 2023 when the Office published and opened the “Draft Regulation for Amendment of the Regulation on the Implementation of the Industrial… »
Constitutional Court Annulled the Sanction for Non-Attendance to Mandatory Mediation
Article 18/A of the Law No. 6325 on Mediation in Civil Disputes ("Mediation Law") stipulates that, should the mediation process end due to one of the party’s failure to attend the first meeting without a valid excuse, that party shall be liable for all litigation costs, regardless of whether they partially or fully succeed in the subsequent lawsuit. In addition to that, no attorney fee shall be awarded to such party. The Constitutional Court recently examined… »
The Draft Regulation About Cross-Border Transfer of Personal Data, Turkish Standard Contractual Terms and Binding Corporate Rules Guidelines
Within the framework of the amendments to the Turkish Personal Data Protection Law (the “Law”), which will come into force on 1 June 2024, the draft regulation on cross-border data transfer was being expected and has now published by the Turkish Personal Data Protection Authority (the “DPA”) for commentary from public in general. For consideration of data controllers and data processors, major issues set forth under the draft regulation are as follows: Cross-Border Transfers… »