Changes have been made to regulations for Payment Services, Electronic Money Issuance, Payment Agencies and Electronic Money Agencies in Turkey. Changes apply to onetime payment transactions, as well as some definitions, systems and processes. The Regulation Regarding Changes to the Regulation Regarding Payment Services, Electronic Money Issuance, Payment Agencies and Electronic Money Agencies ("Amendment Regulation") was published in Official Gazette number 29574 on 26 December 2015, entering into effect on the same date.

Significant changes introduced by the Amendment Regulation include:

  • "Onetime Payment Agreement" has been amended to become "Onetime Payment Transaction". Related amendments are made to information policies and conditions of onetime payment transactions (Section 4, Part 1 of the Regulation).
  • The definition of "invoice payment" has been narrowed to exclude taxes, duties, fees, social security premiums and penalties (Regulation Article 3(1)(e) of the Regulation).
  • The requirement to execute an additional payment collection agreement has been removed for circumstances where a bank provides services as an intermediary for invoice payments to an agency and is expressly authorized to make payment collections on behalf of the invoicing agency (Article 5 of the Regulation).
  • The nature of the framework agreement which must be executed between the payment service provider and the payment service user is defined as being a "continuous periodic payment relation" (Article 33 of the Regulation).
  • It is no longer necessary to execute an agreement for one time payments which are below certain thresholds, set out in Article 58 of the Regulation. These payments are deemed to be low value.
  • The documents required to obtain an activity license have been narrowed, along with items considered during equity calculations.

Please see this link for full text of the Amendment Regulation (only available in Turkish).

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.