December 16-22, 2024 Official Gazette Review

I am sharing a summary of developments from the laws, decrees, regulations, circulars, and other legislation issued by the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (TBMM), the President, ministries, and public legal entities published in the Official Gazette between December 16 and 22, 2024.

The Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey has decided to grant an operating license as an electronic money institution to Moneymate Elektronik Para ve Ödeme Hizmetleri A.Ş.

The Constitutional Court (AYM) has annulled Articles 125 and 126 of the Notary Law, which contain regulations regarding disciplinary penalties that can be imposed on notaries, finding them unconstitutional. The AYM ruled for the annulment of the provision in Article 125, which states, "Disciplinary penalties written in the following article shall be applied to notaries who engage in acts and behaviors contrary to the dignity and honor of the profession, who do not perform their duties, who perform them defectively, or who engage in behaviors that shake the trust required by their duty, in order to ensure that notary services are carried out properly, depending on the nature and severity of the situation," as well as the regulation in Article 126 regarding the penalties of "warning, reprimand, fine, temporary dismissal from duty, and dismissal from the profession" to be imposed on notaries. The annulment decisions will enter into force after 9 months.

The Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (BDDK) has granted permission for the establishment of a bank under the title Katılımevi Katılım Bankası A.Ş.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry has published the Communiqué on the Determination of Antimicrobials or Antimicrobial Groups Reserved for the Treatment of Certain Infections in Humans (Communiqué No: 2024/33). With this communiqué, antimicrobials or antimicrobial substance groups reserved for the treatment of certain infections in humans have been determined in order to combat antimicrobial resistance. It has been decided to ban the use of these substances in animals. The antimicrobials or antimicrobial groups included in the list cannot be used in veterinary medicinal products or medicated feeds. License applications for products containing these substances will be rejected, and the licenses of those already licensed will be revoked. The communiqué will enter into force two months after its publication date.

The Ministry of Trade has published the Communiqué on the Prevention of Unfair Competition in Imports (Communiqué No: 2024/32). The communiqué aims to put into effect the decision taken as a result of the completion of the anti-dumping investigation initiated against the product "yarn and threads of vulcanized rubber" classified under the customs tariff position 4007.00 originating from the Republic of India, which was published in the Official Gazette dated 13/9/2023 and numbered 32308 (Communiqué No: 2023/22) and conducted by the Ministry of Trade's General Directorate of Imports.

The Ministry of Trade has published the Communiqué on the Prevention of Unfair Competition in Imports (Communiqué No: 2024/37). The communiqué aims to initiate a final review investigation regarding the definitive anti-dumping measure currently in force against the import of "gas-fired instantaneous water heaters" classified under the customs tariff statistical position 8419.11.00.00.00 originating from the People's Republic of China, and to determine the procedures and principles of the initiated investigation.

The Ministry of Trade has published the Communiqué on the Increase of Monetary Limits in Article 10 of the Law No. 5957 on the Regulation of the Trade of Vegetables and Fruits and Other Goods with Sufficient Supply and Demand Depth. In this context, for 2025, application to the wholesale market arbitration committees will be mandatory for disputes under 887,009.71 Turkish Liras. The decisions to be made by the committee in these disputes will have the force of a court verdict. These decisions will be executed according to the provisions of the Enforcement and Bankruptcy Law No. 2004 regarding the execution of court verdicts. For disputes of 887,009.71 Turkish Liras and above for 2025, the decisions made by the wholesale market arbitration committee may be presented as evidence in the commercial court of first instance. The communiqué enters into force on 01/01/2025.

The Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey has published the Communiqué on the Amendment of the Communiqué on Reserve Requirements (No: 2013/15) (No: 2024/24). It has been determined that the reserve requirement ratios for liabilities other than deposits/participation funds (excluding those belonging to foreign banks) that are in foreign currency determined by the CBRT and obtained from abroad with a maturity of more than 1 year will be applied as zero percent (0) until the calculation date of 19/12/2025 (inclusive) for the increase amount compared to 06/01/2023, that liabilities excluded from the scope of the article will continue to be taken into account within the scope of this practice according to the calculation method to be determined by the CBRT until the end of their maturities, and that the communiqué will enter into force on 21/12/2024.

The Ministry of Trade has published the Communiqué on the Increase of Monetary Limits in Article 68 of the Law No. 6502 on the Protection of Consumers and Article 6 of the Regulation on Consumer Arbitration Committees. Accordingly, for applications to be made for 2025, Provincial or District Consumer Arbitration Committees will be authorized for disputes with a value under 149,000 (one hundred forty-nine thousand) Turkish Liras. The communiqué will enter into force on 1.1.2025.

The Ministry of Trade has published the Communiqué on the Prevention of Unfair Competition in Imports (Communiqué No: 2024/36). The communiqué aims to put into effect the decision taken as a result of the completion of the final review investigation initiated against the import of "chromite fire bricks," "magnesite fire bricks," "chrome magnesite fire bricks," and "those containing magnesite, magnesia in periclase form, dolomite (including in dolime form) or chromite (excluding those containing dolomite; excluding structural boards based on magnesium oxide, in thicknesses between 3 mm and 30 mm)" originating from the People's Republic of China, which was published in the Official Gazette dated 2/9/2023 and numbered 32297 (Communiqué No: 2023/24) and conducted by the Ministry of Trade's General Directorate of Imports.

The Turkish Patent and Trademark Office has published the Communiqué on the Classification of Goods and Services for Trademark Registration Applications (Turkpatent: 2024/2). In accordance with the communiqué, the following additions were made to the goods and services classification list. To Class 9: Cryptocurrencies, NFTs, mobile applications, artificial intelligence-powered humanoid robots, laboratory robots, robots for educational purposes, security surveillance robots, and electric vehicle charging stations,

To Class 10: Masks for medical purposes, to Class 12: Forklifts, caravans, drones, and unmanned aerial vehicles, to Class 29: Charging services for electric vehicles and portable charging unit rental services, to Class 38: Communication services via telephone, computer, and other methods and enabling this; services for the transmission of visual and audio messages, pictures, and videos with the help of computers, mobile phones, and smart wearable devices, services for renting user access time to a global computer network, internet service provision services, communication device rental services, to Class 39: Within the scope of health tourism, services for organizing travel and providing transfers for those who want to receive treatment and their companions; travel visa and document arrangement services, to Class 41: Life coaching and entertainment planning (wedding, henna night, engagement) services, to Class 42: Land vehicle auto appraisal services: Checking whether the vehicle has had an accident; external checks of the vehicle, internal checks of the vehicle, undercarriage checks of the vehicle, engine compartment checks of the vehicle, detection and reporting of faults if any, to Class 43: TH Health tourism accommodation services, to Class 44: Dentistry, psychologist, massage, and spa services, to Class 45: Astrology consultancy services and spiritual consultancy services were added. With the communiqué, the Communiqué on the Classification of Goods and Services for Trademark Registration Applications (TPE: 2016/2) published in the Official Gazette dated 30/12/2016 and numbered 29934 was repealed.

The Council of Tax Litigation Chambers of the Council of State decided with its decision dated 23.10.2024, numbered 2024/4 E, 2024/10 K, that in cases where it is understood that an action that was never actually established was the subject of the lawsuit until the end of the period for the first defense petition, half of the attorney's fee written in the Minimum Attorney Fee Tariff should be awarded in the decision of dismissal without examination.

The Ministry of National Education has published the Regulation on Candidate Teaching and Teaching Profession Career Steps. According to the regulation, those serving as candidate teachers on October 18, 2024, and those who will be appointed as candidate teachers until September 1, 2025, will be subject to the Candidate Teacher Training Program. The candidacy process cannot be less than one year and more than two years. Candidate teachers who complete the program will be appointed to teaching staff positions at the end of the process. The same principles will apply to contracted teachers. However, contracted teachers who have completed a three-year working period will be exempt from candidacy provisions. Teachers who have served for at least 10 years in the teaching profession and do not have any disciplinary penalty of suspension of grade advancement will be entitled to apply for the Specialist Teaching Training Program. Those who successfully complete the program will receive the title of specialist teacher. Those who have served for at least 10 years as a specialist teacher will be able to participate in the Head Teacher Training Program. Those who successfully complete the training will be given the title of head teacher. In addition, it was allowed for those who have completed a 20-year working period in teaching or specialist teaching to apply directly for head teaching. Teachers working in private educational institutions affiliated with the Ministry of National Education, administrators who meet the appointment requirements in these institutions, and teachers working in other public institutions will also be able to apply for the titles of specialist and head teacher if they meet the specified conditions. The total service periods of teachers will be taken into account in applications for specialist teaching or head teaching. Periods spent in candidate teaching, periods spent teaching during military service, and periods of substitute teaching will also be included in this calculation. With the new regulation, the previous regulation published on May 12, 2022, was repealed.

The Ministry of Trade has published the Regulation on the Amendment of the Regulation on Principles and Rules to be Applied in Retail Trade. With the amendment, the installment period will be applied as three months for mobile phone sales that are in the nature of refurbished products carried out by renewal centers or authorized dealers in accordance with the Regulation on the Sale of Refurbished Products and have a price above 25 thousand Turkish Liras, and for mobile phone sales that are not of this nature and have a price above 20 thousand Turkish Liras. On the other hand, the installment period for vehicle sales was re-determined as not exceeding forty-eight months for vehicle sales with a final invoice value of 400 thousand Turkish Liras and below, thirty-six months for vehicle sales above 400 thousand Turkish Liras and not above 800 thousand Turkish Liras, twenty-four months for vehicle sales above 800 thousand Turkish Liras and not above 1 million 200 thousand Turkish Liras, and twelve months for vehicle sales above 1 million 200 thousand Turkish Liras and not above 2 million Turkish Liras. In addition, no installments can be made for vehicle sales with a final invoice value above 2 million Turkish Liras.

The Energy Market Regulatory Authority (EPDK) has published the Regulation on the Amendment of the Electricity Market Balancing and Settlement Regulation, the Regulation on the Amendment of the Electricity Market Licensing Regulation, and the Regulation on the Amendment of the Electricity Market Ancillary Services Regulation. In this direction, aggregation services were included in the scope of the Regulation on the Amendment of the Electricity Market Licensing Regulation. Thus, legal entities holding a supply license other than authorized supply companies will be able to engage in aggregation activities in the electricity market, provided that it is included in their license. Legal entities holding a supply license whose aggregation activity is included in their license will not be able to engage in aggregation activities on behalf of the grid users they have an agreement with to supply electricity. The authorized supply company will provide service using different physical environments and information system infrastructures from distribution companies. In addition, within the scope of the Regulation on the Amendment of the Electricity Market Balancing and Settlement Regulation, definitions of balancing zone, minimum stable production level, aggregator, and aggregation were added to the regulation.

The said regulation amendment will enter into force on January 1, 2025. In the Regulation on the Amendment of the Electricity Market Ancillary Services Regulation, changes were made regarding issues such as demand-side participation service, demand-side participation service test report, limited frequency sensitivity low-frequency mode, and limited frequency sensitivity high-frequency mode. Within the scope of the amendment, the secondary frequency control reserve to be provided by ancillary service units certified in accordance with Article 8 from licensed production facilities and independent electricity storage facilities will be provided by the relevant ancillary service units as a result of the supply process regulated in this Regulation and carried out by TEİAŞ within the framework of the procedures and principles discussed in this Regulation, either directly or through the transfer of obligations. With the provisional article added to the regulation, the effective date of the articles regarding the demand-side participation service and the first tender announcement will be made by TEİAŞ by March 1, 2025, at the latest. Within the scope of the change made in the minimum consumption amount required for participation in the demand-side participation service, the 5 thousand megawatt-hour consumption value will be applied as 10 thousand megawatt-hours for 2025. Articles 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, and 14 of the regulation will enter into force on March 1, 2025, and other provisions on the date of publication.