The Regulation on Supporting the Film Sector ("The Regulation Determining the Scope") which regulates the principles and procedures for supporting the development and strengthening of the film sector, was published in the Official Gazette numbered 30919 on 15 October 2019. This regulation was followed by the Regulation on Procedures and Principles in the Film Sector ("Regulation on Procedures and Principles") published in the Official Gazette numbered 30926 on 22 October 2019.

Notable arrangements of The Regulation Determining the Scope can be summarized as follows:

  • Support applications to be made to Turkey's Ministry of Culture and Tourism will be assessed regarding the creativity of the project, cultural, artistic and aesthetical qualitative value of the project, and the previous studies of the applicant, if any, national and international achievements, budget and financial plan, human dignity, and compliance with Constitutional principles.
  • The Committee to Support Series and Foreign Films will be established to evaluate the applications made in the series of film and foreign film production support types and to determine the ones to be supported.
  • Supports are categorized as animation film productions, documentary film productions, post-shoot, distributions, and promotions, first feature fiction film productions, short film productions, co-production, project development, script and dialogue writing, feature film production and domestic film screenings.
  • The director, who will produce his first feature film, must have directed at least two short or one documentary films before.
  • The amount of support for the foreign film production support type shall not exceed 30 percent of the amount spent within the country, which is accepted by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. All supports under the Law on The Evaluation and Classification and Support of Cinema Films ("Law") will be given without reimbursement.
  • In the case that the obligations specified in the law, regulation and support contract are not fulfilled or if the support is found to be unfair, the amount of support shall be recovered together with interest.
  • Finally, the beneficiaries of the support are obliged to act as the addressee of all kinds of copyright issues due to the writing, production, and publication of the supported project and thus to cover the damages incurred by the Ministry.

Notable arrangements of Regulation on Procedures and Principles can be summarized as follows:

  • Advertising time in movies is now limited to 10 minutes. Trailers which may affect the cinema audience's preferences to go to the cinema and enable the promotion of the films were made to display at least three minutes before the movie.
  • Movie theatre operators or other natural or legal persons who sell movie tickets cannot sell the movie ticket together with another product at the same time and cannot make the cinema ticket to be purchased by another product or service.
  • Age of classes are re-arranged in terms of physical and psychological development of children, international practices and expert opinions for the films produced or imported in the country as "General Audience, 6A, 6+, 10A, 10+, 13A, 13+, 16 + and 18+"
  • The films which have been evaluated and classified for the first time in the commercial circulation in the cinema halls cannot be transmitted until five months after the date they are released in five years in paid cable, satellite, terrestrial, internet and other media, and free of charge in satellite, terrestrial, internet and other media for six months.
  • A sufficient number of Audit Commissions shall be established by the local administrative authority in the provinces in order to carry out the inspections on the matters specified in the mentioned provisions and an administrative fine shall be imposed on those who do not comply with the obligation of those.

Please see this link for full text of the Regulation Determining the Scope of Support, which has been published in Official Gazette number 30919 on 15 October 2019 and see this link for full text of the Regulation on Procedures and Principles, which has been published on 22 October 2019 dated Official Gazette numbered 30926 (only available in Turkish).

Information first published in the MA | Gazette, a fortnightly legal update newsletter produced by Moroğlu Arseven.

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