Işıl focuses on various areas of law
 including e-commerce law, personal data protection law, contracts law and
 consumer protection law. Işıl started her career as a trainee
 lawyer at Gökçe Attorney Partnership, then continued to work at PwC Turkey (PwC
 Yönetim Danışmanlığı A.Ş.) as an in-house lawyer, and finally joined <a href="https://turkishlawblog.com/contributors/detail/yazicioglu-legal" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(3, 102, 132);">Yazicioglu Legal</a> as an associate. Işıl graduated from Istanbul University
 Law School with honour degree (2016) and also studied at Leiden University as a
 part of the Erasmus Plus programme for a semester (2015). She obtained her
 LL.M. degree from Istanbul University Institute of Social Sciences (2022) with
 her thesis on “Transfer of Personal Data Abroad in the Scope of Personal Data
 Protection Law Numbered 6698 and General Data Protection Regulation Numbered
 2016/679”.















 Practice Areas &amp; Work Department

E-Commerce Law

Personal Data Protection Law

Contracts Law

Commercial and Corporate Law

Consumer Protection Law

&nbsp; 

Languages

Turkish 

English

Korean

&nbsp; 

Memberships

Istanbul Bar Association

Yazıcıoğlu Legal is an
Istanbul-based boutique technology, media, telecommunications, data
protection/cyber security and commercial law firm.It also has a solid expertise
in cross-border transactions, M&amp;As, corporate and commercial matters,
intellectual property, regulatory compliance, e-commerce, consumer protection
and dispute resolution.Yazıcıoğlu Legal is one of the
ranked firms in the The Legal 500 on IT and Telecoms Law. Our Founding Partner
<a href="https://turkishlawblog.com/writer/detail/bora-yazicioglu" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(3, 102, 132);">Bora Yazıcıoğlu</a> is listed as one of the three leading individuals in IT and
Telecoms Law in Turkey in The Legal 500. He is also listed as a Ranked Lawyer
in TMT in Chambers and Partners.

YAZICIOGLU LEGAL

Associate

&lt;h2 style="text-align: justify;">&lt;span style="font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, " segoe="" ui",="" roboto,="" helvetica,="" arial,="" sans-serif,="" "apple="" color="" emoji",="" "segoe="" ui="" emoji";"="">&lt;strong style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">1. What Are Geographical Data and Geographic Information Systems?&lt;/strong>&lt;/span>&lt;/h2>&lt;p style="text-align: justify;">&lt;span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">According to the legislation on Geographical Data and
Geographic Information Systems:&lt;br>&lt;/span>&lt;/p>&lt;ul style="list-style-type: square;">&lt;li style="margin-left: 20px; text-align: justify; line-height: 2;">&lt;span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Geographical data (“&lt;strong style="">Geodata&lt;/strong>”) is “any kind of data
containing location information”. For example,
administrative units, toponyms, building and address
information are within this scope.&lt;/span>&lt;/li>&lt;li style="margin-left: 20px; text-align: justify; line-height: 2;">&lt;span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Geographic Information Systems (“&lt;strong style="">GIS&lt;/strong>”) are the “set
of hardware, software, human resources, standards,
and methods necessary for the production, supply,
storage, processing, management, analysis, sharing,
presentation and keeping up to date of Geodata”.&lt;/span>&lt;/li>&lt;/ul>&lt;h2 style="text-align: justify; line-height: 2;">&lt;span style="font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, " segoe="" ui",="" roboto,="" helvetica,="" arial,="" sans-serif,="" "apple="" color="" emoji",="" "segoe="" ui="" emoji";"="">&lt;strong style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">2. What Are the Requirements?&lt;/strong>&lt;/span>&lt;/h2>&lt;ul style="list-style-type: square;">&lt;li style="margin-left: 20px; text-align: justify; line-height: 2;">&lt;span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Depending on the scope of the activity, which involves
Geodata processing, persons processing Geodata
must obtain &lt;strong style="">(i)&lt;/strong> a permit or &lt;strong style="">(ii)&lt;/strong> a license, both of which
are subject to an annual fee.&lt;/span>&lt;/li>&lt;li style="margin-left: 50px; text-align: justify; line-height: 2;">&lt;span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">&lt;strong>Who needs to obtain a permit:&lt;/strong> Persons/entities,
whose Geodata processing activities involves
more than one location information but less than
one province.&lt;/span>&lt;/li>&lt;li style="margin-left: 50px; text-align: justify; line-height: 2;">&lt;span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">&lt;strong>Who needs to obtain a license: &lt;/strong>Persons/entities
whose Geodata processing activities involves
more than one location information and at least
one province.&lt;/span>&lt;/li>&lt;li style="margin-left: 20px; text-align: justify; line-height: 2;">&lt;span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Software which is considered as GIS must be certified
by the Ministry of Environment Urbanization and
Climate Change (“&lt;strong>Ministry&lt;/strong>”). Also, sensors and
equipment (i.e. hardware) which collect Geodata will
be recorded on an electronic platform that the
Ministry will create.&lt;/span>&lt;/li>&lt;li style="margin-left: 20px; text-align: justify; line-height: 2;">&lt;span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">License applicants must employ:&lt;/span>&lt;/li>&lt;li style="margin-left: 50px; text-align: justify; line-height: 2;">&lt;span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">If activities carried out countrywide: at least one
person as a GIS Specialist and one person with a
GIS Operator Certificate or&lt;/span>&lt;/li>&lt;li style="margin-left: 50px; text-align: justify; line-height: 2;">&lt;span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">If activities are carried out within the scope of a
province: at least one person with a GIS Operator
Certificate.&lt;/span>&lt;/li>&lt;li style="margin-left: 20px; text-align: justify; line-height: 2;">&lt;span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">License owners must submit a semiannual report to the
Ministry on the activities specified in the license
agreement.&lt;/span>&lt;/li>&lt;/ul>&lt;h2 style="text-align: justify;">&lt;strong style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">3. What Is the Relevance of This Legislation&nbsp;to E-Commerce Companies?&lt;/strong>&lt;/h2>&lt;ul style="list-style-type: square;">&lt;li style="margin-left: 20px; text-align: justify; line-height: 2;">&lt;span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">For a long time, the legislation on Geodata has been
interpreted to apply only to applications using precise
location data. However, in the middle of last year
(2022) the Ministry sent notices to the major ecommerce companies to inform them of their
requirements under this legislation. It appears that
according to the Ministry "e-commerce companies
which process address information" may also be
subject to this legislation.&lt;/span>&lt;/li>&lt;li style="margin-left: 20px; text-align: justify; line-height: 2;">&lt;span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Therefore, based on the Ministry’s interpretation, ecommerce companies, which process address
information countrywide, are required to:&lt;/span>&lt;/li>&lt;li style="margin-left: 30px; text-align: justify; line-height: 2;">&lt;span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Obtain a Geodata license from the Ministry
(subject to annual fee),&lt;/span>&lt;/li>&lt;li style="margin-left: 30px; text-align: justify; line-height: 2;">&lt;span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Employ at least one person as a GIS Specialist and
one person with a GIS Operator Certificate,&lt;/span>&lt;/li>&lt;li style="margin-left: 30px; text-align: justify; line-height: 2;">&lt;span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Submit a semiannual report to the Ministry on the
activities specified in the license agreement.&lt;/span>&lt;/li>&lt;/ul>&lt;h2 style="text-align: justify;">&lt;span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">&lt;strong style="">4. Fines&lt;/strong>&lt;/span>&lt;/h2>&lt;ul style="list-style-type: square;">&lt;li style="margin-left: 20px; text-align: justify; line-height: 2;">&lt;span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">If a Geodata permit is not obtained, the application
must be made within at least 10 (ten) days, as specified
in the notification sent to the entities by the Ministry.
Otherwise, the Ministry may decide to cease the
operation of the entities and impose an administrative
fine equal to five times of the applicable permit fee.&lt;/span>&lt;/li>&lt;li style="margin-left: 20px; text-align: justify; line-height: 2;">&lt;span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">If a Geodata license is not obtained the legislation
does not impose a spesific fine, however, we
understand that the Ministry is of the view that it may
apply the fine mentioned above for not obtaining
license by analogy.&lt;/span>&lt;/li>&lt;hr>&lt;p>&lt;span style="font-size: 14px;">&lt;strong>Tagged with&lt;/strong>:&nbsp;&lt;a href="https://turkishlawblog.com/contributors/detail/yazicioglu-legal" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(2, 102, 132);">YAZICIOGLU LEGAL&lt;/a>,&nbsp;&lt;a href="https://turkishlawblog.com/writer/detail/bora-yazicioglu" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(2, 102, 132);">Bora Yazıcıoğlu&lt;/a>, &lt;a href="https://turkishlawblog.com/writer/detail/isil-celik" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(2, 102, 132);">Işıl Çelik&lt;/a>, &lt;a href="https://turkishlawblog.com/insights/category/e-commerce" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(2, 102, 132);">E-Commerce&lt;/a>, &lt;/span>&lt;a href="https://turkishlawblog.com/insights/category/e-commerce" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(2, 102, 132); font-size: 14px;">Electronic Commerce&lt;/a>&lt;/p>&lt;/ul>

Turkey has introduced new legislation concerning geographical data and geographical information systems (GIS). Companies processing geodata must obtain a permit or a licence, depending on the scope of their activity, and the legislation also requires software that is considered a GIS to be certified by the Ministry of Environment Urbanization and Climate Change. E-commerce firms which process address information countrywide may be subject to this legislation and required to obtain a Geodata license, employ a GIS specialist, and submit semiannual reports. Failure to obtain a Geodata permit or licence may result in an administrative fine or even a cessation of operation.

Lawyers Işıl Çelik

Işıl Çelik

Geographic Data License: What Does It Mean for E-Commerce Companies?