Permit Processes for Geographical Data Processing

Changes Have Been Made to the Permit Processes for Geographical Data Processing.

Pursuant to the Law No. 7534 on the Amendment of the Village Law and Certain Laws (“Amendment Law”) published in the Official Gazette dated 12 December 2024 and numbered 32750, some amendments have been made on the Law No. 7221 on the Amendment of Geographical Information Systems and Certain Laws (“Law No. 7221”), in order to comply with the annulment decision of the Constitutional Court dated 18 May 2023 and numbered 2023/99.

According to Amendment Law, the method of calculating the permit fee has been changed and it has been regulated that it will be calculated according to the number of geographical data themes, financial strength, income level, permit period and the size of the field of activity. The distinction between foreign and domestic has not been changed and the calculations are based on the coefficient.

The validity period of the permit is not limited to 1 year and is subject to an approval of not less than 1 year and not more than 5 years, depending on the request.

The payment period of the permit fee is determined as 15 days; in case of non-payment, the application will be considered invalid.

With the Amendment Law, it has been stipulated that sensors that collect geographic data within the scope of smart city applications will be recorded in the electronic environment to be created by the Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change (“Ministry”).

If it is determined by the Ministry that the geographical data permit has not been obtained, the owner of the activity will be given 15 days to to make an application. It has also been stated that an administrative fine in the amount of the highest one-year permit fee will be imposed on Turkish real and legal persons which do not make an application within this period, and twice the one-year permit fee will be imposed on foreign real and legal persons. The fact that an administrative fine has been imposed will not relieve the obligation to obtain permission. In addition, if a permit application is not made within 60 days from the date of the accrual of the administrative fine, the permit fee will be applied in the amount of twice the permit fee in the first permit application to be made thereafter.

Natural gas and electricity distribution companies subject to the license of the Energy Markets Regulatory Authority are exempted from the permit obligation, provided that they register with the National Geographic Information Platform. The sale of geographical data for commercial purposes and revenue-generating sharing of geographical data of legal entities that have been granted a distribution license outside the scope of the distribution license are not within the scope of this exemption.

Previously issued permits and/ or licenses by the Ministry will be valid until their expiry dates, yet permit or license applications that have not completed the approval phase before the effective date will be considered invalid.

In addition, the certification and registration exemption for software and hardware operating in the field of defence, security and intelligence has also ended.

The amendments made to Law No. 7221 by the Amendment Law entered into force as of the date of their publication.