The Consolidation of Charging Service Networks: Cancellation of Licenses
An announcement dated 20.09.2023[1] was made on the official website of the Energy Market Regulatory Authority ("EMRA"), which regulates the infrastructure services of the electric vehicle market with a view to encouraging the use of electric vehicles and developing this field, to the effect that:
“…there are a total of 8 thousand 861 charging points, including 6 thousand 633 slow and 2 thousand 228 fast charging points, at 4 thousand 221 charging stations in Türkiye. Accordingly, there is approximately one fast charging point for every 14 vehicles in Türkiye, and Türkiye ranks 1st in Europe in terms of fast charging points per vehicle.”[2]
Together with the new licenses issued by EMRA as of February 2024, it was determined that the number of companies with operator licenses in the charging network market approached 200.
Despite these promising figures for the future of the sector, the period extensions granted to charging network operators who have not established a charging network consisting of at least fifty charging units and charging stations in at least five different districts within 6 months from the date of the entry into force of their license has expired. This has led to EMRA adding the issue of cancelling the previously issued licenses to their agenda.
In accordance with Provisional Article 3 of the Regulation on Charging Services, legal entities holding a charging network operator license as of 28.07.2023 were allowed until 31.01.2024 to establish a charging network with the prescribed outreach. Accordingly, the licenses held by charging network operators who have not established an adequate charging network by the end of 31.01.2024 will be cancelled in accordance with Article 32 of the same regulation. Charging network operators whose licenses have been cancelled, partners with ten percent or more shares in this legal entity, and the chairman and members of the board of directors, including those who have resigned within one year before the license cancellation date, will not be able to obtain a charging network operator license for three years following the license cancellation. They will not be able to apply for a license, have direct or indirect shareholding in the legal entities applying for a license, and may not be appointed to the board of directors of same.
If the license is cancelled, the certificates issued by the charging network operator will automatically lose their validity. At this point, the certificates held by natural or legal person charging station operators who operate charging stations on-site and provide charging services to third parties at the charging station within the scope of the certificate issued by the charging network operators will also become invalid. In this case, charging station operators have two options: (i) to apply for a charging network operator license without any time limit or prohibition or (ii) apply for a certificate by applying to another charging network operator and receive a certificate to carry out activities by connecting to the license holder's charging network.
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