Marine Pollution Fines More Than Quadrupled for 2019:

PREJUDICIAL USE OF THE SOCIAL MEDIA BY SEAFARERS:

Social media has become an integral part of our daily lives and seafarers are certainly no exception to that especially considering the intensified need to maintain connection with loved ones in the months spent away from home. This comes with several drawbacks that may prejudice owners’ position in several ways.

AMENDMENTS INTRODUCED TO THE COMMUNIQUE ON THE EXCEPTIONS TO FOREIGN CURRENCY CONTRACT PROHIBITIONS:

The scope of exceptions to foreign currency contract prohibitions has been amended.

Turkey Requires Ship Recycling Plan under the HK Convention:

By the declaration published in the Official Gazette today, it has been announced that Turkey has opted to require the submission for approval of a Ship Recycling Plan before a ship may be recycled in Turkey’s authorized Ship Recycling Facilities under the International Convention on the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships (“Convention”).

FAQ ON RESTRICTIONS ON DETERMINATION OF CONTRACT VALUES IN FOREIGN CURRENCY OR INDEXED TO A FOREIGN CURRENCY PUBLISHED:

On 12.10.2018 the Ministry of Treasury and Finance ("Ministry") published a press release in relation to the agreements denominated in foreign currencies, which included explanations for the frequently asked questions (“FAQ”).

Data Protection Board’s Latest Resolution Stipulates Administrative Fines up to 1 Million TRY for Unauthorized Advertisements and Calls:

According to the latest resolution of the Data Protection Board, data controllers who illegally transmit advertisement notices to e-mail addresses and mobile phones of the data subjects via e-mail messages, SMS or calls and data processors who use these data on behalf of the data controller without the explicit consent of the data subjects shall be fined for an amount ranging from 15.000 TRY to 1 million TRY.

THE COMMUNIQUE ON EXCEPTIONS ALLOWING COMPANIES TO CONTRACT UNDER FOREIGN CURRENCIES HAS BEEN PUBLISHED:

Exceptions allowing companies to contract under foreign currencies has been published. Presidential Decree dated 13 September 2018 had brought restrictions to agreements denominated in foreign currencies or indexed to foreign currencies concluded between real persons and legal entities residing in Turkey.

REGISTRATION OBLIGATIONS HAVE STARTED: CONTROLLERS HAVE 12 MONTHS TO REGISTER:

As our readers may recall from our earlier coverage of the data controllers’ registry, Data Protection Board (“DPB”), with its decision numbered 2018/88 (“Decision”), had previously determined the timeline for data controllers’ obligation to register with the data controllers’ registry system, “VERBIS”. According to the DPB’s Decision, registration obligations for the data controllers below have started.

PRESIDENTIAL DECREE IMPOSES RESTRICTIONS ON DETERMINATION OF CONTRACT VALUES IN FOREIGN CURRENCY OR INDEXED TO A FOREIGN CURRENCY:

Presidential Decree dated 13 September 2018 brought restrictions to agreements denominated in foreign currencies or indexed to foreign currencies concluded between real persons and legal entities residing in Turkey. The Ministry of Treasury and Finance has yet to publish any exceptions to this rule and the Minister has declared that the relevant regulation will soon be published.

MAJOR AMENDMENTS INTRODUCED TO RULES GOVERNING TRAFFIC IN THE TURKISH STRAITS: