Upon declaration of Covid-19 outbreak, which has national and international affects, as pandemic, it was necessary to make amendments in some legal regulations in order to prevent possible economic and legal problems. Therefore, Law on Amendment of Some Laws Nr. 7226 has been entered into force by being published on the repeating Official Gazette dated 26.03.2020 and numbered 31080. The Law on Amendment of Some Laws Nr. 7226 is considered as “Omnibus Bill” and it makes many amendments to many laws. These may be summarized as follows;
The periods for filing lawsuit, commencing execution proceedings, application, complaint, objection, warning, notice, serving and prescription, and all periods regarding origination, utilization and ending of a right, including lapse of time and compulsory administrative periods; the periods determined for parties pursuant to Administrative Jurisdiction Procedure Law Nr. 2577, Law on Criminal Procedure Nr. 5271, Code of Civil Procedure Nr. 6100, and other laws containing procedural terms as well as periods requested by the judge within this scope, and periods for mediation and conciliation authorities are suspended from 13/3/2020 (including); and the periods specified in Enforcement and Execution Law and other laws related to proceedings, the periods determined by the judges or enforcement and execution offices within this scope, enforcement and execution proceedingsexcluding execution proceedings for alimony receivables, party and proceedings procedures as well as periods for getting application of new enforcement and execution proceedings, procedures for execution and enforcement of provisional attachment decisions are suspended from 22/3/2020 (including) to 30/4/2020 (including). Such periods will continue back as of the next day following the ending date of suspension. The periods with fifteen or shorter days remaining as of the commencement date of the suspension will be deemed that they are extended for fifteen days as of the next day following the ending date of suspension.
However, it is stated in the Omnibus Bill that there are some exceptions in such periods, which are listed below;
An amendment was made in Cheque Law with Law Nr. 7226. In this scope, execution of sentences imposed until 24 March 2020 will suspended for three months. Minimum 1/10 of the unpaid portion of the total amount of the cheque will be paid within maximum three months as of such date. Otherwise, execution of sentence will be completed according to the complaint of the claimant. If 10% of the cheque amount is paid within three months, remaining amount should be paid in 15 equal installments bimonthly. Otherwise, execution of sentence will be completed according to the complaint of the claimant.
As is known, in case of cease of work due to force majeure, closure of workplace before or after national holidays and bank holidays, or decrease of normal operation periods of a workplace or closure of the same due to similar reasons or granting permission for leave according to the request of the employee, the employer is entitled for make-up for the idle periods within two months. The two-month period stated in Labor Law Nr. 4857 is increased to four months.
A new regulation is applied regarding rentals of workplaces within the scope of Law Nr. 7226. In Code of Obligations Nr. 6098, it is stated that payment of the rent on time is one of the liabilities of the lessee, and in case the lessee fails to pay the rent on time, the lessor shall be entitled to terminate the lease contract and to demand eviction of the lessee from the leased property. In Law Nr. 7226, limited to only the workplace rents, failure of payment of the rental for a workplace to be accrued from 01.03.2020 to 30.6.2020 shall not constitute a reason for termination of the lease contract or eviction.
With the Law Nr. 7226, the President is vested with power of postponing the electricity and natural gas bills that the consumers are obliged to pay up to 1 year for the consumers who are suffering from natural disasters such as earthquake, fire, flood, landslide, rock fall, avalanche and similar disasters. With such postpone, the consumer will only pay the bill debt; the financing costs and delay interests of the electricity, natural gas companies or suppliers thereof will be covered by the budget of the related ministry.
With article 29 of Law Nr. 7226, a temporary article was added to Law Nr. 5510. In accordance with this regulation, a support of minimum wage will be provided to the employer in 2020. Minimum wage support will be given in 2020; a contribution of monthly TRY 2.5 and monthly TRY 75 from Unemployment Fund will be provided to the employer.
In accordance with 2 temporary articles added to Law on Ignoring of Records with regard to Bad Cheques, Protested Bills, Credit and Credit Card Debts Nr. 5834; with regard to the records of any real person and legal entity delaying payments principal, interest and/or accessory obligations of cash and non-cash loans, the principal and/or installment date of which are before 24/03/2020, of any real person carrying or not carrying commercial activities and credit customers for their bad cheques, protested bills, credit and credit card debts being kept by Banks Association of Turkey, Risk Center formed according to provisions of additional article 1 of Law on Banking Nr. 5411 related to bad cheques, protested bills, credit and credit card debts; if the entire of such delayed debts are paid or restructured until 31/12/2020 in total, it will be provided for credit institutions and financial institutions to disregard such financial transactions to be made with such persons.
Restructuring of current loans or facilitating new loans by credit institutions and financial institutions pursuant to this first paragraph shall not cause any legal and penal liability to such institutions.
With the temporary article 23 added to Law Nr. 4447; for applications made for short working allowance due to compulsory reason of novel coronavirus (Covid-19) until 30 June 2020, the requirement for fulfillment of entitlement to unemployment insurance, with the exception of termination of employment contract, in order for an employee to be entitled to receive such short working allowance shall be applied as being employed under insurance with paid unemployment premiums for the last 60 days (which was 120 days formerly)before commencement of short working allowance, and for 450 days (which was 600 days formerly) for the employees subject to employment contract. Any person not fulfilling such condition may benefit of short working allowance up to the period remaining from his/her last unemployment allowance entitlement, provided that it doesn’t exceed short working period.
In order to benefit of short working allowance, no employee should be dismissed by the employer, excluding rightful immediate termination due to “acts in contravention of ethics and goodwill rules” during the period of benefiting of short working allowance pursuant to sub-paragraph (II) of first paragraph of article 25 of Law Nr. 4857.
The applications will be finalized within 60 days following application date. The President is vested with power of extending such period until 31 December 2020.
The payment periods for the rentals, the fees for final permit, final allocation, easement, servitude, utilization, additional utilization fees as well as revenue shares to be collected from tourism lands, and adequate pays to be collected from tourism facilities licensed by Ministry of Culture and Tourism are suspended. In accordance with the temporary article 25 added to Law on Appreciation of Immovable Assets of Treasure and Amendment in Law on Value Added Tax Nr. 4706; notwithstanding the fact that whether servitude or utilization permit has been granted or not, no rental, final permit, final allocation, easement, servitude, utilization, additional utilization fees as well as revenue shares to be collected from tourism lands, and adequate pays to be collected from tourism facilities licensed by Ministry of Culture and Tourism, which should have been collected between 1/4/2020 and 30/6/2020 from investors and operators licensed by Ministry of Culture and Tourism, who are allocated with public lands to build tourism facilities by related ministries pursuant to related laws, shall be suspended for six months without requirement of application and such receivables shall be collected at the end of extended period without imposing any raise or interest.
Atty. Abide Gülel Birsen
Atty. Acem Süleyman Alhan
Yazar : GülelHukuk