ELECTRONIC NOTIFICATION ADRESS OBLIGATION FOR JOINT STOCK COMPANIES AND LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANIES
As per the Article 7 of the Regulation related to Electronic Notification (in Turkish, “Elektronik Tebligat
Yönetmeliği”, hereinafter referred to as “Regulation”), notifications to joint stock companies and limited liability companies shall be made mandatorily through electronic notification (in Turkish, “Kayıtlı E-Posta”, hereinafter referred to as “KEP”). Addressees, who are obliged to receive electronic notifications, must submit their KEP addresses to the authorities which are entitled to serve notifications. With their KEP account, the user can both send and receive e-notifications. E-notifications via KEP have evidential value.
Entitlement by the Company
The application for obtaining KEP address requires the signatures of the Company’s representative (in Turkish “Kurum Yetkilisi”, hereinafter referred to as “Company’s representative”) and the person to use such address in the name of the Company (in Turkish “İşlem Yetkilisi”, hereinafter referred to as “authorized official”). Therefore, the assignment of the person(s) to the said positions as per the Company’s decision is essential for the use of the KEP account.
The Company representative has more extensive powers compared to the authorized official; they can appoint or discharge the latter and manage the KEP account. They shall be one of the current managers of the
Company. However, the one who shall use the KEP account is the authorized official. The KEP sent by the authorized official shall bind the Company.
The Company representative and the authorized official may be the same person. However, if the current manager of the Company does not speak Turkish, it would be advisable for the Company to appoint a Turkish speaking authorized official since the interface of the KEP system is in Turkish.
Use of KEP
The service provider of the KEP system offers two alternatives concerning the use of KEP account:
- only receiving KEP,
- receiving and sending KEP (it is in such case necessary to empower the authorized official with an e- signature).
The reach of the KEP message to the recipient’s mailbox, creates evidence and afterwards, the sender gets
informed. When a KEP is sent to a user, the user is informed via e-mail and -upon their request- via SMS.
Since KEP system is a web based system, it does not require any additional computer program. Browsers
supported by KEP are as follows: Firefox 17.0.1, Internet Explorer 9 and Google Chrome 23.0.1271.97 m. However, the “java 1.7” program is required in order to use the e-signature module.
Liabilities
As per the Article 18 paragraph 3 of the Turkish Commercial Code numbered 6102 (in Turkish “Türk Ticaret
Kanunu”, hereinafter referred to as “Code”); “between merchants (hereinafter referred to separately as the “Party” and together as the “Parties”), notices and declarations to put the other Party into default, to terminate the contract (with or without retroactive effect), shall be communicated through (i) notary public, (ii) registered letter, (iii) telegraph or (iv) KEP used with an e-signature.”
Nevertheless, it is set forth in Article 7/a, paragraph 2 of the Notification Code numbered 7201 (in Turkish “Tebligat Kanunu”, hereinafter referred to as “Notification Code”) and in Article 7/1 of the Regulation that; “joint stock companies (in Turkish “Anonim Şirket”), limited liability companies (in Turkish “Limited Şirket”) and limited partnerships divided into shares (in Turkish “Sermayesi Paylara Bölünmüş Komandit Şirket”) shall mandatorily be notified through electronic notification (“KEP”).”
Moreover, it is worthy to note that; pursuant to the Article 9/A of the Code Regarding the Prevention of Laundering of Crime Revenues numbered 5549 (in Turkish “Suç Gelirlerinin Aklanmasının Önlenmesi Hakkında Kanun”; hereinafter referred to as “Code numbered 5549”); the notifications to be made within the scope of (i) the Code numbered 5549 and (ii) the Code Regarding the Prevention of Terrorism Financing numbered 6415 (in Turkish “Terörizmin Finansmanının Önlenmesi Hakkında Kanun”; hereinafter referred to as “Code numbered 6415”) may be communicated through electronic platform without being subject to the procedures set forth in the Notification Code and the reply thereto may be required to be made through electronic platform.
As per the Article 13 paragraph 4 of the Code numbered 5549, any breach of the provisions foreseen in the Article 9/A shall be subject to an administrative fine in the amount of TRY 10,000.- with an annual maximum of TRY 250,000.-.
Our Firm remains at your disposal for any further information you may require.