Amendments to the Judicial System by Law No. 6545
Law No. 6545, which Amends Turkish Criminal Law and Certain Codes[1] (“Law No. 6545”), entered into force through its publication in the Official Gazette dated June 28, 2014 and numbered 29044. Law No. 6545 particularly amends the administrative procedural system, the structure of the criminal courts of peace and the commercial courts of first instance.
Amendments Regarding the Administrative Procedural System
The most important aspects of the amendments regarding the administrative procedural system made by Law No. 6545 are amendments with respect to the legal remedy system by enabling the process of appeal and setting forth an expedited trial procedure.
Amended Legal Remedy System:
The existing administrative procedural system, before the amendments made by Law No. 6545, was formed by a judicial system of two instances. The courts of first instance were the first judicial stage; and the regional administrative courts and the Council of State, respectively, constituted the subsequent stage of the administrative procedural system as an authority of objection and appeal. With the new regulation, the administrative judicial system shall be implemented through a system of three instances constituted by (i) judgment of the courts of first instance, (ii) first appeal and (iii) second appeal. The aforesaid amendments to the legal remedy system shall also be applied where appeals are made against tax courts’ decisions.
With the entry into force of Law No. 6545, appealing to regional administrative courts against the decisions of the courts of first instance has become possible. Accordingly, the jurisdiction of the regional administrative courts are stated as follows; to examine the appeals against the final decisions of the courts of first instance that are open to appeal and the decisions regarding requests related to the issue of stay order and conclude them, to settle the disputes concerning the jurisdiction and competency between the courts of first instance in its judicial locality, to decide the transfer of the action to another court which is in the same judicial locality with the relevant regional administrative court or appoint the competent court in case of a factual and legal obstacle with its judicial locality in ruling the action.
In the new system, it is possible to appeal to regional administrative courts against the decisions of the administrative and tax courts within 30 days from the decision’s notification. However, the decisions of administrative and tax courts regarding the tax actions, full remedy actions and actions for nullity against the administrative acts of which the matter in dispute is not higher than five thousand Turkish Lira are definitive and may not be appealed. Accordingly, if regional administrative courts conclude that the decision of the court of first instance is in compliance with law, it will refuse the request of appeal. In case of the request’s acceptance, it will be decided by considering the basis of the action. The first appeal shall be subject to the same form and procedure as the second appeal. Pursuant to Law No. 6545, the decisions of regional administrative courts are definitive where they are not open to second appeal.
The Law No. 6545 has amended Article 46 of the Administrative Jurisdiction Procedure Law No. 2527. Especially, there is a possibility to lodge an appeal with the Council of State within thirty days from the decision’s notification against the decisions of regional administrative courts and the final decisions of the judicial chambers of the Council of State regarding tax actions and full remedy actions and actions concerning administrative acts of which the matter in dispute is higher than one hundred thousand Turkish Lira, actions for zoning plans, actions arising from subdivision operations, actions concerning the grant of the operation permit to the coastal facilities.
Council of State examines whether the decision is in compliance with the law during the second appeal procedure. Following this examination, if it is concluded that the decision is in compliance with law, it approves the decision and the approved decision is definitive. Otherwise, the examined decisions are reversed and dispatched to the regional administrative court that tried the action before, for it to rehear the action. The regional administrative court may adopt the reversed decision of the Council of State or insist on its own decision. Where it adopts the reversed decision of the Council of State, the appeal examination of this decision shall be limited to its accordance with the reversed decision. If the regional administrative court insists on its own decision by disregarding the reversing decision, it will be examined and concluded in Council of State plenary session of the chambers for administrative actions or for tax actions, according to the subject of the request. Ultimately, it is compulsory to adopt the decisions of the Council of State plenary sessions of the chambers for administrative actions and for tax actions.
The Ministry of Justice shall establish regional administrative courts within three months from the entry in force of Law No. 6545. The existing regional administrative courts shall continue their operations until the date the new regional administrative courts are established. As of the date when new regional administrative courts are established, files present at the existing regional administrative courts shall be assigned to recently established regional administrative courts.
Expedited Trial Procedure
As per the new regulation, an expedited trial procedure is applicable for the disputes arising from the following affaires: tender processes excluding the decisions related to the preclusion from participating in tenders; expedited expropriation procedures; High Board of Privatization’s decision; sales, appropriation and renting operations in accordance with the Law on the Encouragement of Tourism No. 2534; decisions of environmental impact assessments excluding administrative sanction decisions in accordance with Environmental Law No. 2872; disputes related to the Council of Ministers’ decision in accordance with the Law on Transformation of Places at Disaster Risk No. 6303.
According to the expedited trial procedure, the term of litigation is thirty days and the time for preparation of defense is fifteen days beginning from notification date of the complaint. Moreover, decisions related to the request of stay order may not be appealed. These actions must be concluded within one month at the latest, beginning from the consummation of the action. Expedited trial procedure provides only the second appeal procedure which may be requested within fifteen days beginning from the notification of the final decision. The second appeal request must conclude within two months at the latest.
Amendments Regarding the Criminal Courts of Peace
As per Law No. 6545, the criminal courts of peace are replaced with the criminal judicature of peace. The criminal judicature of peace takes judicial decisions, deals with affaires and examines the objections against all these.
Moreover, certain changes appear in legal remedies within the scope of the Law of Criminal Procedure No. 5271. Before such amendments, criminal courts of first instance examined the objections made against decisions of the criminal court of peace. In accordance with the new regulation, objections made against the criminal judicature of peace are examined by the subsequent numbered judicature of peace, in case there is more than one criminal judicature of peace within the relevant judicial locality.
Amendments Regarding the Commercial Court of First Instance
The Law No. 6545 contains structural changes regarding the commercial courts of first instance, such as abandoning the single judge system and bringing the court board system.
The court board is composed of a chief judge and two members. Law No. 6545 lists the actions to be concluded by the commercial court of first instance. Some of these actions are listed as follows: actions for which the value of the claim is over three hundred thousand Turkish lira; actions regarding bankruptcy, postponement of bankruptcy, removal of bankruptcy, closing of bankruptcy, concordatum; actions based on restructuring; actions for annulment and nullity of general assembly resolutions; liability actions to be filed against the managing and auditing body; actions regarding objections against arbitration clauses, actions for setting aside of arbitral awards, actions on the appointment and refusal of the arbitrator and actions regarding recognition and enforcement of the foreign arbitral awards.
Conclusion
Law No. 6545 has amended the administrative procedural system, the structure of the criminal courts of peace and the commercial courts of first instance. In consideration of the new regulation, the administrative judicial system shall be implemented through a system of three instances. On the other hand, an expedited judicial procedure appears in the administrative judicial system for the first time. Moreover, the criminal courts of peace have been removed and the criminal judicature of peace is formed by the new regulations of Law No. 6545. Further, the single judge system in the commercial court of first instance has been removed and the actions to be concluded by the commercial court of first instance are listed.
- The Law No. 6545 was published in the Official Gazette dated June 28, 2014 and numbered 29044 and entered into force on June 28, 2014. Please see: http://www.resmigazete.gov.tr/eskiler/2014/06/20140628-9.htm (accessed on: 12.08.2014).
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