THE REGULATION REGARDING THE SHOPPING MALLS

The Regulation regarding the Shopping Malls (in Turkish “Alışveriş Merkezleri Hakkında Yönetmelik”, hereinafter referred to as the “Regulation”) has been issued by the Ministry of Customs and Trade, published in the Official Gazette dated 26 February 2016 and numbered 29636.

This Regulation has been adopted on the basis of the Law regarding the Regulation of Retail Trade numbered 6585 (in Turkish “Perakende Ticaretin Düzenlenmesi Hakkında Kanun”) and it is entered into force on the date of its publication, e.g. on 26 February 2016.

Below you may find some important aspects of the Regulation regarding the retail stores at the Shopping Malls:

1. Scope of the Regulation
   As per article 1 of the Regulation, the Regulation aims at determining the features and characteristics of the shopping malls and establishing the procedures and the principles applicable to the inauguration, the activities and the control of the shopping malls.Furthermore, the Regulation provides the rights and obligations of the owner of the shopping mall, the management of the shopping mall, as well as the rights and obligations of the competent authorities and all other relevant institutions and organizations.
2. Principles and rules applicable to the common expenses
   The Regulation provides the rules applicable to the common areas (article 6), the social and cultural activities area (article 7), the emergency response unit (article 8), the child care room and playground area (article 9), but also other common use areas (article 10), as well as the common expenses (article 11).As per the said article 11, the common expenses such costs related to water, electricity, heating, maintenance that shall not constitute renovation, security and cleaning expenses of the common area shall be divided in accordance with the procedures and principles set forth in the annex of the Regulation (Please find hereafter the annex in Turkish).

   Besides, the retail stores may be required to pay other common expenses related to their common interests, such as promotion and management of the shopping mall, if it is specifically agreed upon in their contracts with the Shopping Mall.

   The lessees shall not be required to pay any common expenses other than the ones specified above (article 11/3 of the Regulation).

   The article 11/5 outlines that the common expenses shall be calculated and paid in Turkish Lira.

   Further, the shopping mall’s administration shall send to all stores until end of March of each year, a report on the incomes and the common expenses of the previous year concerning the common areas.

3. Establishment of an emergency medical response unit
   The Regulation provides under its article 8 the obligation for the shopping mall to establish an emergency medical response unit (in Turkish, “Acil Tıbbi Müdahele Ünitesi”) having easy access in order to facilitate the fist-aid intervention and to ensure the transfer to the nearest hospital, if necessary.All retail stores the surface of which exceeds 400.-m² are obliged to install a medical emergency button in their store in order to ensure the communication with the aforesaid emergency medical response unit.

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