Public Announcement on Key Considerations for Standard Contracts to be Used in the Cross-Border Transfer of Personal Data

The Personal Data Protection Authority (the Authority) has published a public announcement regarding the rules to be followed in terms of content and format for standard contracts, which are designated as an appropriate safeguard mechanism for the cross-border transfer of personal data under Article 9 of the Personal Data Protection Law No. 6698.

The points to be considered for the validity of standard contracts are summarized below.

• The standard contract must be signed by the data transfer parties or their authorized representatives and comply with the Turkish Code of Obligations No. 6098. 
• For standard contracts drafted in a foreign language or prepared in a bilingual column format, both parties must sign the Turkish document/column.
• Documents confirming the signatories signing authority, must be submitted to the Authority along with the standard contract. The parties’ names must be included in the standard contract and be identical to those in the supporting documents. A notarized Turkish translation must accompany foreign language documents submitted to the Authority.
• To verify the submission of the standard contract to the Authority within five business days, the signature dates of both transfer parties must be included in the standard contract text.
• Details such as the addresses, contact details of the parties and names of the signatories must be explicitly stated in the standard contract. When submitting via KEP, it must be ensured that the full version of the contract is attached.
• Official documents issued in foreign countries must be submitted with an apostille if issued in a country that is a party to the Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalization for Foreign Public Documents. If issued in a non-party country or one without an exemption, they must be authenticated by the relevant authorities of that country before submission to the Authority.
• Even if the transfer parties complete their signatures at a later date, the standard contract must not contain retroactive effective date statements.
• The parties may only modify optional or alternative clauses, no additions, deletions, or amendments should be made to the core contract text.