Türkiye compliance with the Turkish Commercial Code, the Law on the Protection of Competition, and the Law on the Protection of Personal Data is crucial since it concerns all companies. Knowing the legislation, following the changes, and implementing them is of great importance. In addition, sector-specific regulations also create compliance requirements for institutions. For instance, sectors like health, construction, energy, and chemistry have regulations related to environment and safety they must adhere to. For the finance sector, regulations by the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency and the Treasury are vital, while for publicly traded companies, the regulations of the Capital Markets Board are of critical importance.
Compliance is the effort to create behaviors in line with the rules, expressing all preventive legal rules that ensure the company, its organs, and employees at every level act in accordance with national and international legislation. Risks arise when an organization faces the risk of violating the rules in these two areas.
What these risks entail varies from company to company. The potential outcomes if one of these risks materializes can also vary significantly: sanctions, compensation claims, fines, or imprisonment are conceivable, but most importantly, they can lead to reputational losses. Recent economic history provides plenty of examples of such situations.
International companies, in their structures established anywhere in the world, must not overlook regulations that have been accepted and adopted in the international order and must be complied with, such as the “UK Bribery Act,” the “U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act,” the “EU Anti Trust Policy,” the “Money Laundering Act,” and the “General Data Protection Regulation.” It should not be forgotten, especially considering that compliance with these can be monitored, that compliance mechanisms of company processes are of utmost importance to foreign investors.
