The Regulation on the Importation, Production, Processing and Supply of Food Supplements was published by the Ministry of Food and Forestry on May 2, 2013, in the Official Gazette and came into force on August 2, 2013. The Regulation is not only the first regulation specific to food supplements but also includes provisions for the control and approval mechanism for food supplements that is to be established. However due to the many legislative changes it can be expected that…
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Telemedicine is not explicitly regulated under Turkish law. The existing legal framework, including the Medical Deontology By-law and Ethical Principles for Physicians, prohibits remote examination, diagnosis, and treatment of patients.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the legal gap in telemedicine became more serious as private hospitals especially started to provide online healthcare services to patients who could not visit healthcare centres due to the COVID-19 risk. The fact…
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The supply of pharmaceutical products to Turkey via the named patient programme (the “NPP”) is one of the exceptional importation regimes for pharmaceutical products. Where a pharmaceutical product is not granted marketing authorisation in Turkey, or it is granted marketing authorisation but not found in the market where there is a patient need, it can be supplied via this particular route by physician request.
If the product is approved for the NPP, it is added to the…
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When you watch the commercials, do you often feel like advertising companies are working hard to convince you that their products or services are “eco”, “environmentally friendly”, “nature friendly”, “green” and “recyclable”? Does environmentally-friendly feature of a product have any impact on your preference to purchase or use it? In fact, are we yet at the end of an era of advertising products that are not “green” enough but promoted to be “green”?
The “green advertising”…
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Transparency International’s annual report 2022 Corruption Perceptions Index (“CPI 2022”), aiming to measure the perceived level of public sector corruption based on various sources with the contributions of businesspeople, NGOs and country experts, was released on January 31, 2023. The index ranks 180 countries/territories by their perceived level of public sector corruption on a scale from 0 (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean). CPI is regarded as one of the most credible…
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What are the main dispute resolution methods used to resolve large commercial disputes?
The main and most commonly used method for resolving large commercial disputes in Turkey is litigation. Civil litigation is based on the principle that the parties to the dispute prepare their case. The judge is bound to hear claims, defences and evidence brought by the parties. However, the judge is entitled to make a legal assessment ex officio. The management of proceedings is at the…
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The General Communiqué no. 546 on Tax Procedural Law (the "Communiqué") which determines the procedures and principles regarding the acceptance of the notifications made electronically by the Ministry of Trade to the Ministry of Treasury and Finance (the "Ministry") from the transactions registered in the trade registry as notifications made by taxpayers was published in the Official Gazette dated 18 January 2023, to be effective as of 1 February 2023.
Within the scope of the…
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Under Turkish law, journalists are subject to Law No. 5953 on Arrangement of Relations Between Employers and Employees in the Field of Press (“Press Labour Law”), which sets out the terms and conditions of their employment.
Former wording of Article 1 of Press Labour Law stated that the law covered those who work in any kind of intellectual or artistic works at news and photo agencies, periodical publications and newspapers published in Turkey and who fall outside the…
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With the frequent occurrence of cyber-attacks, having insurance coverage against these attacks has become increasingly crucial, and many insurance companies have started to provide cybersecurity insurance services.
Like cryptocurrencies, NFTs which are digital assets with a specific value, are based on blockchain technology and stored in the blockchain. The blockchain is a database containing records that, once added, are almost impossible to change and is a digital ledger…
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Pharmaceuticals that are not authorized in Turkey and/or not available in the market despite being authorized, shall be procured from abroad upon request of physicians and special authorization in cases where patients require such pharmaceuticals. Until recently, this exceptional import regime for pharmaceuticals was regulated by the Guideline on the Supply of Pharmaceuticals from Abroad published by the Turkish Medicines and Medical Devices Agency ("Agency").
On February 3…
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Güldeniz Doğan Alkan and Cansu Evren of Gün + Partners say that a recent ruling raises the question of how many trademarks should be imitated for an act of bad faith to be recognised
In a case, the Turkish Civil IP Court decided for the invalidation of a trademark registration identical to the plaintiff’s mark and trade name. The decision noted that:
The plaintiff held a registration for the same class in the EU (but not in Turkey) before the trademark at issue; and
The…
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The office provides an opportunity to limit the list of goods/services in terms of international trademark applications filed via WIPO
However, it does not allow applicants to limit goods and services when it comes to national trademark applications
This controversial approach eliminates a method commonly used by applicants to avoid potential disputes
Limitation of goods/services
The Turkish Patent and Trademark Office (‘office’) applies the Nice Classification for the…
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