Turkey: The Electronic Notification Regulation Has Been Superseded

The Electronic Notification Regulation published in the Official Gazette dated 19 January 2013 ("Former Regulation") has been superseded by the new Electronic Notification Regulation published in the Official Gazette dated 6 December 2018 ("New Regulation"). The New Regulation will enter into force on 1 January 2019.

The New Regulation has been prepared pursuant to Notification Law No. 7201 ("Notification Law") and covers the principles and procedures of electronic notifications that will be served by the authorities and institutions which are authorized to serve notifications in line with the Notification Law¹ through the Turkish Postal Service, i.e., Posta ve Telgraf Teşkilatı Anonim Şirketi ("PTT"). Electronic notification transactions will be carried out through the National Electronic Notification System (known as "UETS"), which is established, operated and secured by PTT in order to carry out electronic notification procedures in accordance with the Notification Law.

The New Regulation retains the requirement of electronic notification to joint stock companies and limited liability companies along with certain other public and private persons², which was introduced in the Former Regulation. In this context, the persons to whom the notifications are required to be made electronically as per the New Regulation must apply to the PTT within one month from the effective date of the said regulation, i.e., 1 January 2019, with the information and documents specified in the New Regulation in order to obtain an electronic notification address. During the application, persons authorized to use the electronic notification address must be determined and declared to the PTT. The PTT will create an electronic notification address within one month from the date of the application and will register this address in the UETS. Following the registration of the address, the PTT will submit this address to the owner or authorized person and will permit its use by authorities competent to serve notifications. In case unforeseeable reasons prevent electronic notification, notification will be made by other procedures as specified in the Notification Law.

The New Regulation does not introduce any specific rules for individuals, institutions and corporations that have already mandatorily or voluntarily obtained a registered electronic e-mail ("KEP") address pursuant to the requirements set forth in the Former Regulation. However, the PTT announced on 13 December 2018 that with the commissioning of UETS, electronic notification service will not be provided from existing KEP addresses, and that new electronic addresses should be obtained via UETS. The same announcement also stated that only official notifications per the Notification Law will be sent via UETS, and that notifications covered under Article 18(3) of the Turkish Commercial Code No. 6102 ("TCC"), correspondence regarding commercial activities that fall within the scope of Article 1525/(1) of the TCC, and electronic communications of public organizations and institutions pursuant to Prime Ministry Circular No. 2017/21 dated 14 October 2017 will continue to be sent through the existing KEP system.

Footnotes

1. In accordance with Article 1 of the Notification Law, the following institutions and organizations are authorized to serve notifications pursuant to the Notification Law: (i) judicial authorities; (ii) certain general budget administrations listed in Table I annexed to Public Finance Management and Control Law No. 5018 ("Law No. 5018"), (ii) special budget administrations listed in Table II annexed to Law No. 5018, (iii) regulatory and supervisory authorities listed in Table III annexed to Law No. 5018, (iv) social security administrations listed in Table IV annexed to Law No. 5018, (vi) foundation higher education institutions, (vii) private provincial administrations, (viii) municipalities, (ix) village institutions, (x) bar associations, and (xi) notaries.

2. In accordance with the first paragraph of Article 5 of the New Regulation, the following persons and institutions must be served through electronic notification: (i) public institutions and affiliated institutions with working capital listed in the Tables I, II, III and IV annexed to the Law No. 5018; (ii) local administrations as defined in Law No. 5018, (iii) other public institutions and organizations and funds and surety funds established by special laws, (iv) state economic enterprises and their subsidiaries, establishments and enterprises, (v) other associations which have more than 50% of their capital publicly owned; (vi) public professional organizations and their parent organizations, (vii) all private legal entities, including those established by law, (viii) notaries, (ix) attorneys registered at the bar association, (x) registered mediators and experts, (xi) unit of persons that are authorized to represent administrations, state economic enterprises or other associations which have more than 50% of their capital publicly owned, judicial and administrative authorities, enforcement directorates, and arbitrators.

Originally published December 21, 2018

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