Insights
Unfair Price Assessment Board
During the COVID-19 outbreak, some entities exorbitantly increased the prices of masks, disinfectants, colognes, wet wipes and foodstuff against the standards of professional care in contrast with the normal functioning of the market and in a way that is negatively affecting the usual purchasing behaviour of the consumers. By taking the exorbitant price increases into account, an additional article titled “Exorbitant price increase, stockpiling and Unfair Price Assessment… »
Sanctions against Unfair Price Increases
Due to the rapid expansion of the COVID-19 pandemic in Turkey and worldwide, demand for protective masks, sanitisers, cleaning products and foodstuff significantly increased. Some companies exorbitantly and inequitably increased prices of such goods, substances and materials, which the consumers intensively demanded during this outbreak. The Advertisement Board, in March 2020, ordered a decision for suspension of the referred actions and imposition of 10.090.060 Turkish liras… »
The Scope of the Gifts Given Along with Foods
In its decision dated 11.02.2020 and numbered 2019/9931, the Advertisement Board examined a campaign regarding free ice tea coupons accompanying potato chips and the advertisement of the referred products. The Advertisement Board held that the said campaign and the referred advertisements are compliant with the Consumer Protection Law numbered 6502 and the Advertising Regulation and imposed no sanction against these promotions. Shortly after the decision mentioned above, in… »
Turkish Country - Code Domain Name System on the Eve of a New Era
• The long-awaited TRABIS System, which replaces the Nic TR system, will become effective in the near future• The most important change is that extensions such as ‘com.tr’, ‘org.tr’, ‘net.tr’ will be allocated on a ‘first come, first-served’ basis• A new dispute resolution mechanism is due to come into effect Since 1998 Nic TR, under the Middle East Technical University, has been authorised by ICANN to register and manage ‘.tr’ domain names. Recently, it has been announced… »
Guideline on Counterfeit, Smuggled or out of Legitimate Supply Chain Drugs Published
On 5 January 2022, the Turkish Medicines and Medical Devices Agency (Agency) announced on its website that a guideline on drugs that are counterfeit, smuggled or out of the legitimate supply chain has been published. The guideline aims to define the responsibilities of stakeholders in combatting drugs that are counterfeit, smuggled or out of the legitimate supply chain and to guide the procedures to be carried out accordingly. Notably, the guideline: States that regulated… »
Design Protection in Turkey
Country Specific Issues - Legal System (civil/common law)Law ReferencesIndustrial Property Code No. 6769 of December 22, 2016 (Industrial Property Code) Regulation on the Implementation of the Industrial Property Code No. 6769 (Implementing Regulation under Industrial Property Code)CommentaryTurkey has a civil law system. There used to be individual legislations (Decree Laws) for each intellectual property right and registered design rights were protected under the provisions… »
The Necessity to Convert the Additional Workplaces into Branches or Close Them Down
Before the Turkish Commercial Code numbered 6102 and dated 01.07.2012 (the “new TCC”) came into effect, the “additional workplace” practice was present, and accordingly, companies used to register their warehouses or offices, which are outside the headquarters, as additional workplaces before the trade registry. However, with the new TCC coming into effect, the “additional workplace” practice was replaced by the “branch” organization, and with the secondary legislation, a… »
Remote Provision of Healthcare Services in Turkey
Abstract: The Ministry of Health published the Regulation on Remote Provision of Healthcare Services regulating the telemedicine activities. The telemedicine is one of the areas that is not clearly regulated under Turkish law. Within the scope of existing legal framework, the Medical Deontology By-law and Ethical Principles for Physicians prohibit remote examination, diagnosis and treatment of patients. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the legal gap on telemedicine became a more… »
The Long - Awaited Amendments in Turkish Data Protection Law
The Turkish data protection authority, Kişisel Verileri Koruma Kurumu, has proposed amendments to the most controversial provisions of the Law on Personal Data Protection numbered 6698. The provisions have been heavily criticized by academia and business circles due to their inapplicability and inadequacy to meet needs. The amendments were actually part of the Economic Reforms, and specific tasks were introduced under the Economic Reforms to comply with the EU General Data… »
New Regulation on Licensing of Medicinal Products For Human Use
The Turkish Medicines and Medical Devices Agency has published a new regulation on Licensing of Medicinal Products for Human Use in the Official Gazette (Turkish language) numbered 31686 of 11 December 2021. This Regulation introduces new provisions that amount to a comprehensive amendment of the abolished Regulation of the same name. The noteworthy new provisions of the Regulation are as follows: In the definitions section of the Regulation, some of the concepts are defined… »
Removal of Products From Named Patient Programme List
The Turkish named patient programme (NPP) is an exceptional importation regime for pharmaceutical products. Following a 5 December 2018 amendment to Law No 984 on Commercial Pharmaceutical Warehouses and Shops that Sell Poisonous Chemical Substances Used in Arts and Agriculture (Law on Warehouses), it is mandatory to apply for marketing authorisation within three years of a drug's inclusion on the NPP list. It is also mandatory to obtain marketing authorisation within two… »
Remarks On 2021 Corruption Perceptions Index
Transparency International, a non-governmental organization combatting corruption worldwide, released the 2022 Corruption Perceptions Index (“CPI”) on January 25, 2021. As a composite indicator, the Index combines various sources to measure the perceptions of businesspeople and country experts, on corruption in the public sector. Accordingly, it ranks 180 countries/territories by their perceived level of public sector corruption on a scale from 0 (highly corrupt) to 100 (very… »