Turkey has introduced an additional certification step for documents used in Turkish tenders, applying to documents originating from countries that have not signed the Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalization for Foreign Public Documents (or related conventions). Documents from these countries must now be certified by the relevant country's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, before being certified by the local Turkish consulate. The new process applies to tenders for consulting services, service procurement, product purchases and construction work.
Accordingly, certifying documents which originate from non-signatory countries can now be done in two ways:
- By the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of that country, then by the local Turkish Consulate, or
- By the Representation Office of that country located in Turkey, then by the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The new certification step will also apply to documents within the following tender-related processes:
- Administrative Specifications.
- Prequalification Specifications.
- Administrative Specifications on Restricted Tender Procedure.
The following regulations were published in Official Gazette number 30109 on 29 June 2017, entering into effect on the same date (only available in Turkish):
- Regulation Amending Regulation on Consulting Services Procurement Tenders
- Regulation Amending Regulation on Service Procurement Tenders
- Regulation Amending Regulation on Product Purchase Tenders
- Regulation Amending Regulation on Construction Works Tenders
Information first published in the MA | Gazette, a fortnightly legal update newsletter produced by Moroğlu Arseven.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.