The Law on Amendment of Certain Laws No. 7226 entered into force upon publication in the Repeated Official Gazette dated 26 March 2020 and numbered 31080. With the Law No. 7226, the procedural terms will be suspended until 30 April 2020 in order to prevent any loss of rights in regard to trials, due to the measures taken for COVID-19 outbreak.

In this respect;

  • Any and all terms in scope of the acquisition, use or extinction of a right, including the terms for filing lawsuits, enforcement proceedings, applications, objections, notices, notifications, submission periods, prescription periods and statutory limitations, along with the mandatory administrative application terms,
  • Terms specified under the Administrative Procedure Code
  • Terms specified under the Criminal Procedure Code,
  • Terms specified under the Civil Procedure Code,
  • Terms specified in other laws containing procedural provisions,
  • Terms determined by the judges,
  • Terms for mediation and conciliation facilities,

have been suspended retrospectively from 13 March 2020 (inclusive), until 30 April 2020 (inclusive).

Prescription periods for offenses and punishments, misdemeanours and administrative sanctions, and disciplinary detention and preventive detentions; terms for protection measures stipulated under the Criminal Procedure Code, and the terms related to the procedures complementing the preliminary injunction stipulated under the Civil Procedure Code are excluded from the suspension period.

The Law No. 7226 also regulates how the terms will proceed following the expiry of the suspension period. In this vein;

  • The suspended terms will resume as of the day following the end of the suspension period.
  • If there are 15 or less days for the expiry of a term as of the beginning of the suspension period, that term will be deemed extended for further 15 days starting from the day following the end of the suspension period. That is to say, if you have 15 or less days to take a procedural action by 13 March 2020, this term will be extended until 15 May 2020.
  • In case of continuation of the reasons causing the suspension, the President is entitled to extend the suspension period once again for a maximum period of 6 months.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.