The Regulation on the Notifications To Be Served Electronically By The Social Security Institution (“SSI”) (in Turkish, “Sosyal Güvenlik Kurumunca Elektronik Ortamda Yapılacak Tebligata İlişkin Yönetmelik”) (hereinafter referred to as the “Regulation”) has been published in the Official Gazette numbered 31608 on 24 September 2021 and entered into force as of 1 October 2021 (“Effective Date”).

Pursuant to the Regulation, all documents required to be notified by the Social Security Institution will be served to the addressees in electronic environment as of the Effective Date.

Within the scope of the Regulation, employers are categorized as those who are required to receive notifications electronically and those who are not required to do so. This distinction has been clarified on the previous regulation titled Electronic Notification Regulation (in Turkish, “Elektronik Tebligat Yönetmeliği”) published in the Official Gazette numbered 30617 on 6 December 2018, as follows.In accordance with the Article 5 of the Electronic Notification Regulation, all notifications to legal entities shall be served via electronic means, and therefore all legal entity employers are obliged to receive notifications electronically.

Based on the above mentioned provision, the real person employers are excluded from the scope of electronic notification, but may nevertheless request to be notified electronically by their own discretion as per the Regulation. However, for the real person employers who request electronic notification, it shall be also deemed mandatory to use this system and it will not be possible to exit from using this system.

Pursuant to the provisions of the 23^rd paragraph of Article 88 of the Law numbered 5510, employers to whom electronic notification will be made mandatorily are obliged to obtain an electronic notification address and use the electronic system within the periods specified in this Regulation.

The legal entity employers to whom notifications shall be served electronically, are obliged to obtain an electronic notification address and to that end shall make an application within three months as from the Effective Date, until 31 December 2021 (including this date) through the system determined by the SSI. Employers who start to employ insured employees after the Effective Date are obliged to make the application within three months from the month following the month/ period in which the employee starts to work, through the system determined by the SSI.

The real person employers who are not required to be notified electronically and obtain an electronic notification address, but who request electronic notification discretionally, are also obliged to submit their applications through the system determined by the SSI.

The Employer to whom the notification will be served electronically is obliged to;

Kindly note that the legal consequences arising from the failure to fulfill the above-mentioned liabilities are under the responsibility of the Employer.The electronically signed document shall be deemed to have been legally served at the end of the 5^th day following the date on which the e-notification has been delivered to the electronic notification address of the addressee.

Our Law Firm remains at your disposal for any further clarifications you may need.