Official Gazette / October 20-26, 2025

With a Presidential Decree, amendments were made to the Special Consumption Tax (SCT) Law, increasing tax rates on cigarettes and mobile phones. According to the new regulation, while a partial price reduction was achieved for the cheapest entry-level phone models, tax rates covering all remaining models have increased. Following this SCT hike, which comes immediately after the recent price increases implemented by manufacturers, it is projected that cigarette prices will rise well above the 100 TL threshold.

The Water Pollution Control Regulation has been amended. An exception was introduced to the article in the previous regulation that prohibited the discharge of "excavation waste, rubble, treatment and process waste sludge, and similar waste" into the sea, making it possible to dump excavation waste and rubble into the sea by laying pipes at depths of 250 meters and below. Although the phrase stating that only non-hazardous inorganic substances can be dumped into the sea has been added to the regulation, it is clear that this is a dangerous regulation for our country, which has high tourism potential but low levels of inspection and deterrent penalty enforcement. Furthermore, chloride and sulfate restrictions on discharges made into the sea by water softening, demineralization, and regeneration facilities have also been lifted. 

The Regulation on Private Health Insurance has been amended. In the new regulation, which will enter into force on January 1, 2026, the waiting period will only be applied in the first term. The waiting period previously applied in subsequent years and when switching to a new company has been removed. It has been made mandatory to offer contracts that include a lifetime renewal guarantee commitment for those under 60 years of age in private health insurance and supplementary/supportive health insurance policies. Once a lifetime renewal guarantee is obtained, coverage cannot be narrowed, coverage limits cannot be reduced, co-payment shares cannot be increased, and additional disease premiums cannot be applied due to illnesses that arise later. Additionally, if a policyholder switches to another company after obtaining a lifetime renewal guarantee, the guarantee will continue under the same conditions at the new company.

With the amendment made to the Regulation on Medical Laboratory Services, the establishment of regional laboratories has been enabled, and medical laboratories, genetic disease diagnosis centers, treatment laboratories, and R&D laboratories, which were previously governed by different legislations, have been brought under the same regulation. Participation in external quality control programs has been made mandatory in all laboratories to ensure that test reliability can be monitored according to international standards. Furthermore, it is now possible to intervene directly in a facility without prior warning in cases that jeopardize patient safety or test accuracy. 

The Regulation on the Allocation of Public Immovables for Tourism Investments has been amended to allow the necessary contracts for the allocation of additional areas to existing facilities to be executed before a notary. The change signifies the simplification of bureaucratic processes for investors.