November 18-24 Official Gazette

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 November 18 and 24.

The Turkish Medicines and Medical Devices Agency has published the Regulation on Market Surveillance of Medicinal Products for Human Use and Foods for Special Medical Purposes. With this, the Regulation on Market Surveillance of Medicinal Products for Human Use, published in the Official Gazette on 01.06.2023, has been repealed. The regulation does not cover magistral drugs. A Market Surveillance Planning Board has been established regarding products covered by the regulation. The Board will determine the products and active substances to be included in the market surveillance program. The National Control Laboratory will be responsible for the examination and analysis of samples of products and active substances.

The Constitutional Court has published the Regulation on the Internships of Judge and Prosecutor Assistants and Legal Interns at the Constitutional Court. Accordingly, judge and prosecutor assistants may intern at the Court for up to four months, and legal interns may intern for 15 days during the first six months of their legal internship. Internship applications will be made through the Constitutional Court or the Union of Turkish Bar Associations, and the evaluation process will be carried out according to various academic and professional criteria.

The Constitutional Court, with its decision dated 24.09.2024 (File No: 2024/112, Decision No: 2024/160), has annulled the regulation in the Passport Law that allowed the Ministry of Interior to impose travel bans by placing restrictions on passports without any judicial decision, and the regulation has been repealed.

The Constitutional Court, with its decision dated 24.09.2024 (File No: 2024/65, Decision No: 2024/163), has annulled the regulation in the Law on Private Security Services that allowed for the cancellation of private security IDs of those determined not to meet the requirements for being a manager or private security officer, or who subsequently lost those requirements. The annulled article will be repealed after 9 months.

The Constitutional Court, with its decision dated 24.09.2024 (File No: 2024/78, Decision No: 2024/164), has annulled the regulation in the Code of Civil Procedure that allowed public benefit associations and foundations to benefit from legal aid. The annulled article will be repealed after 9 months. In the statement, it was found that excluding all legal entities other than public benefit associations and foundations from the scope restricted the right of access to court, and it was decided that legal aid should be possible for all types of natural and legal persons if they meet the financial conditions.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry has published the Regulation on Amending the Regulation on the Agriculture Council. The phrase Strategy Development Presidency has been changed to General Directorate of Agricultural Reform. While the ministry could previously appoint a maximum of 3 officials to the council's board of directors, this has been changed to "at least 3 officials," and a Council Advisory Board has also been established.

The Ministry of Trade has published the Regulation on Amending the Regulation on Intermediary Activities and Supervision and Audit of Intermediaries in the Turkish Mercantile Exchange. The regulation governs the brokerage of electronic product certificates and futures contracts representing agricultural products stored in licensed warehouses on the Turkish Mercantile Exchange. Accordingly, intermediaries may evaluate cash in customer accounts that are not subject to any customer order during the day and show a receivable balance as of the end of the day, either collectively or on a customer basis, depending on the authority granted by the customer in the framework agreement. In case of collective evaluation of such cash, it will be essential to distribute the income obtained to customer accounts proportionally. It is now also possible for intermediaries to set a lower limit on the use of cash receivable balances remaining in customer accounts, provided that this is clearly stated in the framework agreement. Customer cash held with banks must be monitored in a separate account opened for the intermediary's customers, distinct from the intermediary's own cash assets.

The Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey has published Communiqué No. 2024/23 on Amending Communiqué No. 2013/15 on Reserve Requirements. The rate for short-term TL deposits was increased from 15 percent to 17 percent. The TL maintenance ratio for foreign currency deposits was reduced from 5 percent to 4 percent. Reserve requirement ratios for Turkish lira liabilities have been changed.

The Constitutional Court, with its decisions (File No: 2022/1 for the Dayatmasız Yaşam Party, 2022/8 for the As Party, 2022/31 for the Anadolu Birliği Party, 2022/33 for the Ayyıldız Party, 2022/35 for the Yeni Yol Party, 2022/37 for the Doğuş Party, and 2022/49 for the Liberal Party), has decided that the 2021 Final Account Reports of these parties cannot be accepted and has filed a criminal complaint with the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor's Office regarding the aforementioned political parties.

The Ministry of National Education has published the Regulation on School Libraries of the Ministry of National Education. Accordingly, a librarian will be assigned to school libraries with more than 10,000 books. In cases where a librarian cannot be assigned, the governorship will make an assignment primarily from teachers who are surplus to the norm staff in the fields of Turkish language and literature or Turkish. In cases where a librarian cannot be assigned or an assignment cannot be made by the governorship, if there is no teacher who has taken a librarianship course, a teacher determined by the teachers' board will be selected as the teacher responsible for the library. A civil servant will be assigned by the school/institution administration to assist the librarian/teacher responsible for the library.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry has published the Regulation on Amending the Regulation on Veterinary Medicinal Products. Accordingly, antimicrobial products can no longer be used to increase growth or yield in animals. Except in exceptional cases, marketing authorization will not be granted for a second product with the same formula and pharmaceutical form to the authorization holder for products to be offered to the domestic market, even under a different trade name. The veterinary pharmacy warehouse must have separate sections for product acceptance, quarantine, storage, product dispatch, and rejection. These sections will be at least 100 square meters in total. If these conditions are not met within 3 years, operations will be suspended.

The Energy Market Regulatory Authority has published the Regulation on Amending the Liquefied Petroleum Gases (LPG) Market License Regulation. Now, if it is determined that license, license amendment, and extension applications are not made properly, the ten-day period for correction will begin from the date of electronic notification. Previously, the correction period was considered to have started after the applicant physically received the application documents.

The Ministry of Culture and Tourism has amended the Regulation on the Procedures and Principles Regarding the Duties, Authorities, Responsibilities, and Recruitment of the Personnel of the Turkey Tourism Promotion and Development Agency. Personnel who have graduated from undergraduate departments of universities that provide education in a foreign language will no longer be subject to a language exam.