Which companies are obliged to open a website under Turkish Law?
According to the Article 1524 of Turkish Commercial Code, the companies which are subject to independent audit are also required to open a website within three months as from registration before the trade registry and to allocate a specific part of the website for legally required announcements to be made by the company. Accordingly there is no general requirement for all companies to set up a website.
By reference of Turkish Commercial Code, the companies subject to independent audit are determined by the Decree of the Council of Ministers on 2013. The Decree determines the eligibility criteria in terms of net assets, sales revenue and the number of employees and the companies or group of companies which meet any two of those criteria for two consecutive accounting periods shall be subject to independent audit. Additionally, the companies operating in certain business areas that are listed in Schedule I and Schedule II of the Decree which mainly consist of financial institutions, banks and companies subject to regulatory audit are subject to independent auditing notwithstanding the above criteria determined for eligibility.
Duration for Disclosure
Unless a longer period of time is prescribed by other legislation, the content published in the website shall be kept therein for at least six months, otherwise it will be deemed not published at all.
The requirements regarding websites shall not be applicable to other companies which are not subject to independent audit.
Penalties
The Law imposes severe penalties for failing to comply with such requirement, such as holding unpublished resolutions null and void by accepting those directly against law. It is specially indicated in the related article that the negligent directors or board members shall be held liable for consequences of this non-compliance.
There are also criminal penalties, which are prescribed as judicial monetary penalty subject to different durations, to be applied management organ of the companies that fail to open a website or publish the required content.
For further information please contact nilufer.budak@budaklegal.com
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