Announcements

The book titled “Academic Overview of the Protection of Personal Data: KVKK Academy Compilation Study” which evaluates the law on the protection of personal data from various dimensions and includes the studies on the protection of personal data, privacy, data protection law and security of personal data by academics who are experts in their fields, has been published by the Personal Data Protection Authority.

The Book which main sections are given below and in our opinion will be a valuable resource for lawyers in the personal data field and other fields related to personal data, can be accessed from the link below.

Right to Protection of Personal Data
Protection of Personal Data and Ethics
General Concepts
General Principles Under the Law on the Protection of Personal Data
Explicit Consent
Obligation to Respond to the Applications Made by Data Subjects
Application and Complaint Procedures and Obligation to Fulfill Board Decisions
Criminal Offenses Regarding Personal Data
Current Technology and Personal Data
Erasure, Destruction or Anonymization of Personal Data
Sustainable Personal Data Security Governance
Blockchain and Personal Data Protection
Evaluations Regarding the Problems in the Implementation of the Law on Protection of Personal Data in Artificial Intelligence
Protection of Personal Data in Civil Law Relationships
Processing of Personal Data in the Field of Intellectual Property
Protection of Personal Data under the Law of Civil Procedure
Processing of Personal Data in Labor Law
Processing of Personal Data in the Health Sector

https://kvkk.gov.tr/SharedFolderServer/CMSFiles/0cd33e96-77cf-4989-b29b-d331af6a463f.pdf

The Regulation Amending Regulation on Fines to Apply in Cases of Agreements, Concerted Practices and Decisions Limiting Competition, and Abuse of Dominant Position entered into force through publication in the Official Gazette dated 15.06.2022 and numbered 31867. With the amendment, the definition and content of the term that is called “annual gross revenue” which is a determinative for the Turkish Competition Board (the “Board”) about the fines that are given by the Board to the undertakings (enterprise) has expanded. The previous regulation identified the “annual gross revenue” as “the net sales in the uniform account plan, or if this cannot be calculated, the revenue closest to the net sales, which is to be determined by the Board”. The new regulation includes not only the definition in the previous regulation, but also the real operating incomes of the undertakings that are accounted under the account items which are not taken account in the calculation of the net sales, such as ordinary incomes or profits from their other activities.

The Law Numbered 7409 Amending the Attorney’s Act and the Turkish Code of Obligations entered into force through publication in the Official Gazette dated 11.06.2022 and numbered 31863. With the provisional article that has been added to the Turkish Code of Obligations dated 11/1/2011 and numbered 6098, increases in annual rent fees in residential lease agreements that are renewed between June 11, 2022 and July 1, 2023 have been limited to 25 %. If the rate of change in the consumer price index of the previous rental year is below twenty-five percent compared to the twelve-month average, the lower rate of change shall be applied as the rent increate rate. Also, with the amendment on the Attorney’s Act, provided that it does not hinder the legal intern’s internship, working as an insured employee in any work will no longer prevent the legal internship. With the exception of judicial and administrative judiciary judges and prosecutors and candidate judges and prosecutors, those who work in staff or positions of public institutions and organizations can also do legal internships during their duties.

On 13.11.2020, the Competition Board (“Board”) has announced that the investigation into Google (the economic entity consisting of Google Advertising and Marketing Co. Ltd., Google International LLC, Google LLC, Google Ireland Limited, and Alphabet Inc.), which was conducted with the accusations of “abusing its dominant position by updating the general search services and impeding the enterprise activities with AdWords ads” has concluded. The summary of the decision was also published on the Board’s website.

As the conclusion of the investigation, the Board has determined that Google dominates the market of general search services and abusing its dominant position by impeding the organic results which do not generate advertising revenue in the market of content services by intensively placing uncertain quality text advertisements at the top of the general search results. The Board has decided to impose a 196.708.054,78 TL administrative fine on Google.
The 209-page reasoned decision on the investigation conducted on Google was published on the Board’s website on 28.06.2021.