TÜRKIYE Law and Practice Contributed by: Bora Yazıcıoğlu, Kübra İslamoğlu Bayer, Simge Yüce and Yiğit Aktimur, YAZICIOGLU Legal
subjects are pursuing legal action based on this claim. With the DP Law Amendments, the appeal mech - anism to the DPA’s decisions has been signifi - cantly changed, as the former system was heav - ily criticised by practitioners and legal scholars. This change was also prompted by a decision from the Constitutional Court on 12 October 2023, which raised important questions regard - ing the adequacy of the appeal body. Under the new framework, appeals against administrative fines imposed by the DPA can now be filed with administrative courts (see 1.3 Enforcement Pro- ceedings and Fines ). 2.2 Recent Case Law Due to the lack of transparency (see 2.1 General Overview ), a concrete determination regarding the existing case law cannot be made. As such, it is not always possible to determine which pri - vacy lawsuits are currently ongoing or to identify landmark cases. In practice, specific legal remedies have been pursued against the decisions and administra - tive fines imposed by the DPA. However, track - ing these cases can be challenging, so it is appropriate to conclude that no notable cases have been identified. Both ordinary and extraordinary legal remedies have been pursued against the decisions and administrative fines imposed by the DPA within the framework of Turkish DP Law, as well as under legislation relating to the right to data pro - tection. For instance, ongoing legal proceedings exist related to the crime of unlawful recording of personal data under the TCC and civil proceed - ings under the TCiC concerning the prevention of and/or compensation for unlawful processing of personal data as a violation of personal rights.
A notable example, albeit not recent, is a deci - sion issued by the Turkish Supreme Court, which addressed moral compensation claims resulting from the unlawful acquisition of personal data. The court argued that the use of the complain - ant’s identification information constituted a violation of their personality rights and further stated that an appropriate moral compensation should have been determined. 2.3 Collective Redress Mechanisms Under the Turkish legal system, there is no con - cept of collective redress for privacy litigation, and there have been no developments in this area. That said, associations and other legal entities may file lawsuits on behalf of their members or the group of people they represent to protect their interests, address unlawful situations, or prevent future violations. For instance, under the Turkish Consumer Protection Law, consumer organisations, relevant public institutions, and the Ministry of Trade may take legal action before the consumer courts to prevent or halt unlawful situations affecting consumers, excluding unfair commercial practices and advertisements. How - ever, these provisions do not explicitly address collective actions related to privacy. 3. Data Regulation on IoT Providers, Data Holders and Data Processing Services 3.1 Objectives and Scope of Data Regulation Unlike the European Union’s Data Act, no specif - ic regulation addresses IOT services or the rights and obligations of data holders and data pro - cessing services in Türkiye. General rules apply.
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