It was decided through the Presidential Decision dated 19.03.2021 and numbered 3718 published in the Official Gazette dated 20.03.2021 and numbered 31429, that the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence (“Istanbul Convention”) be terminated for the Republic of Turkey.

The period for the prohibition of employment contract termination due to Covid-19 pandemic is extended through the Presidential Decision dated 29.04.2021 and numbered 3930 (“Decision no. 3930”) published in the Official Gazette dated 30.04.2021 and numbered 31470, starting from 17.05.2021 until 30.06.2021, within the frame of the provisional article 10 of the Labour Act no. 4857 (“Labour Law”).

"Laying Down Harmonised Rules on Artificial Intelligence and Amending Certain Union Legislative Acts" ("Proposal") regulation has been proposed on 21.04.2021, by the European Union Commission ("EU Commission"). The regulation in question is a legal regulation that includes the framework of rules regarding artificial intelligence. The approval of the European Parliament and member states is required for the regulation proposal to enter into force. When the regulation is adopted, the activities of other countries’ technology companies operating in EU countries will also be restricted.

“The Regulation on Remote Identification Methods and Establishment of Contractual Relations in Electronic Environment to be Used by Banks”, ("Regulation") has been drafted by the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (“BRSA”) and has been published in the Official Gazette dated 01.04.2021 and numbered 31441.

The Regulation Prohibiting Payments Through Crypto Assets issued by the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey is published in the Official Gazette dated 16.04.2021 and numbered 31456 (“Regulation”). The Regulation shall enter in force on 30.04.2021.

Turkey’s Competition Authority has launched an investigation into online advertising sector on March 6, 2021, after the Board’s meeting on January 21, 2021. It is aimed to find out the structure and functioning of the sector, the structural and / or behavioral competition problems in the sector and discuss the adequacy of existing competition law instruments and possible new instruments, in order to establish an effective competition. In this respect, it is planned to meet with policy makers, enterprises and association of undertakings in order to find out market failures and competition problems and to propose solutions in the process.

The Communiqué on the Amendment of the "Financial Crimes Investigation Board General Communiqué (No: 5)" (No: 18) ("Amending Communiqué ") published in the Official Gazette dated 26.02.2021 and numbered 31407 shall enter into force as of 01.05.2021. With the amendment, the monetary amounts based on identification have been updated within the scope of simplified measures, and implementation requirements have been arranged. The amendments brought by the said Amending Communiqué are as follows:

Communique on Agreements, Concerted Practices, and Decisions of Associations of Undertakings that Do Not Appreciably Restrict Competition numbered 2021/3 ("Communique") entered into force after being published in the Official Gazette dated 16.03.2021 and numbered 31425. With the amendment made to the Law No. 4054 on Protection of Competition (“Law”) on June 24, 2020, De Minimis Principle was introduced to Turkish Competition Law. According to the De Minimis Principle, Turkish Competition Authority ("Authority")

Pursuant to the decision (“Decision”) of the Personal Data Protection Board ("Board") dated 01.12.2020 and numbered 2020/915, upon the complaint of an employee working as an official of the data controller, stating that their personal data is processed through fingerprint scanning devices for work entry and exit tracking, it was decided upon the instruction of the data controller to terminate biometric data processing for employee tracking and to remove the existing system. The content of the decision in question is as follows:

The “Procedures and Principles for the Determination, Prevention and Elimination of Price Squeezing” (“Procedures and Principles”), updated with the Board Decision of the Information Technologies and Communication Authority ("Authority") dated 09.02.2021 and numbered 2021 / DK-SRD / 36, has been approved and published on the official website of the Authority. The said Procedures and Principles will enter into force as of 01.04.2021. The previous “Procedures and Principles Regarding the Determination, Prevention and Elimination of Price Squeezing” (“Old Procedures and Principles”), which entered into force as of 01.07.2014 has been abolished. The content of the said procedures and principles are as follows