CRIMINAL RECORD REQUIREMENT FOR COMPANIES PARTICIPATING IN TENDERS
As per the Public Procurement General Communiqué (in Turkish, “Kamu İhale Genel Tebliğ”) (hereinafter referred to as the “Communiqué”), each real or legal person participating in tenders to be conducted within the scope of the Public Procurement Law numbered 4734 (in Turkish “Kamu İhale Kanunu”) (hereinafter referred to as the “Law”) is obliged to submit a criminal record indicating that the tenderer has not been convicted of an offence concerning his professional conduct by a judgement of a competent court within the five (5) years preceding the date of the procurement proceedings.
In the event that the tenderer is a joint stock company, members of the board of directors; and if the tenderer is a limited liability company, the manager (s) of the company, if none, all the shareholders of limited liability company shall obtain the criminal record from units subordinated to Republic of Turkey the Ministry of Justice General Directorate of Criminal Records in accordance with the Article 17.5.3.1.2. of the Communiqué.
The criminal record may be obtained for those who possess Turkish ID number online from the website https://www.turkiye.gov.tr/ad
Foreign managers, board members, shareholders of a domestic tenderer, or foreign persons participating in tenders on behalf of domestic tenderers are also obliged to submit a criminal record to be obtained from units subordinated to Republic of Turkey the Ministry of Justice General Directorate of Criminal Records.
The criminal record issued by the relevant units in Turkey can be obtained by a special proxy if the relevant foreign director, manager or shareholder reside abroad. However, unlike a general power of attorney, the proxy must contain special authority granting to the attorney who acts on their behalf and such proxy requires to be signed, notarized, apostilled by the relevant authorities or approved by a Turkish Consulate in the foreign director, manager or shareholder’s home country. On another note, depending on the institution conducting the tender, the foreign director, manager or shareholder may be required to submit a criminal record duly obtained from his country of national, notarized and apostilled.
In this respect, we kindly remind you that in case your company will be participating in a tender, please keep in mind that it may take a considerable time for the duly executed power of attorney to be issued and legalized in Turkey. Hence, we recommend your Company to plan the procurement process in advance, in order to avoid any loss of right following the tender.
Our Law Firm remains at your disposal for any further clarifications you may need.