contents
Right to Acquire Information
Law on Right to Acquire Information
Declassified Information or Documents
Law No. 4982
Adopted on : 9.10.2003
SECTION ONE
Purpose, Scope and Definitions
Purpose
ARTICLE 1.- The purpose of this Law is to lay down the principles and procedures for individuals to exercise their right to acquire information in accordance with the principles of equality, neutrality and openness which are the fundamentals of democratic and transparent administration.
Scope
ARTICLE 2.- This Law is applicable to the activities of public institutions and organizations, and professional organizations which have the capacity of a public institution. The provisions of the Act on Exercising of the Right of Petition No 3071 of 01.11.1984 are reserved.
Definitions
ARTICLE 3.- For the purposes of this Law;
a) ?Institution and organization? shall mean all agencies and authorities mentioned in Article 2 of this Law and to which an application to acquire information covered by this Law can be made,
b) ?Applicant? shall mean real and legal persons who exercise their right to acquire information under this Law by applying to institutions and organizations,
c) ?Information? shall mean all kinds of data covered by this Law which are maintained in the records of the institutions and organizations,
d) ?Document? shall mean written, printed or reproduced dossiers, papers, books, journals, brochures, studies, letters, programs, instructions, sketches, plans, films, photographs, tape and video cassettes, maps, all kinds of electronically recorded information, news and data carriers which are the property of the institutions and organizations and which are covered by this Law,
e) ?Access to information or document? shall mean, depending on the nature of the information or document requested, delivery of a copy of the information or document in question to the applicant by the institutions and organizations; and in cases where it is not possible to provide a copy, this shall mean permitting the applicant to review the original information or document, take notes or see or hear the contents thereof,
f) ?Committee? shall mean the Evaluation Committee for Acquiring Information.
SECTION TWO
Right to Acquire Information and Obligation to Provide Information
Right to Acquire Information
ARTICLE 4.- Everyone has the right to acquire information. Foreigners residing in
Obligation to Provide Information
ARTICLE 5.- The institutions and organizations are obliged to take the necessary administrative and technical measures to make available to the applicants all kinds of information or documents, save for those exceptions included in this Law, and to complete applications to acquire information in an effective, quick and accurate manner.
As of the date of entry into force of this Law, the provisions of other laws contrary to the provisions of this Law shall not be applicable.
SECTION THREE
Application to Acquire Information
Application procedure
ARTICLE 6.- The application to acquire information shall be made to the institution or organization where the requested information or document is kept, with a petition containing the name of the applicant, signature, domicile or business address; and if the applicant is a legal person, containing the title of the legal person, address, and the signature of the authorized person and the certificate of authority. This application can be made in electronic format or by other means of communication on the condition that other information to be used to identify the person?s identity and signature or the sender of the letter can be legally identified. In the petition, the information or documents requested must be clearly indicated.
The nature of information or document to be requested
ARTICLE 7.- The application to acquire information must be relevant to the information or documents which are possessed or must be possessed by the relevant institutions and organizations as required by their duty. The institutions and organizations may decline applications for information or document which can be created as a product of a special activity, research, review or analysis. If the requested information or document is available elsewhere other than in the institution and organization applied for, the petition of application shall be sent to such institution and organization and the applicant shall be notified thereof in writing.
Information or documents published or made public
ARTICLE 8.- Information or documents published by the institutions and organizations or made public through publications, brochures, advertisements and similar methods can not be subject of applications to acquire information. However, the applicant shall be notified on how, when and where the information or documents published or made public are published or made public.
Providing information or documents by classifying confidential information
ARTICLE 9.- In case the information and documents requested contain confidential information or information which cannot be disclosed together with information which can be disclosed and if these information can be classified, the information or document in question shall be provided to the applicant after removing the confidential or undisclosable information. The reason for removal of such information or document shall be notified to the applicant in writing.
Access to information or documents
ARTICLE 10.- The institutions and organizations shall provide the applicant a certified copy of the document requested. In cases where providing a copy of the information or document is not possible due to the nature of the information or document, or in cases where making a copy thereof will give harm to the original, the institutions and organizations make sure that the applicant;
a) Reviews the original of the document in question and takes notes for written or printed documents,
b) Listens to the information or documents in the form of audio recording,
c) Watches the information or documents in the form of visual recording.
If it is possible to acquire the information or documents in a different manner other than those mentioned above, this opportunity is provided on the condition that the document is not damaged. The institution and organization to which the application is made may collect from the applicant a fee equal to the cost of access for the information or documents to which access is given, to be recorded as income in its budget.
Duration of access to information or documents
ARTICLE 11.- Upon receipt of applications, the institutions and organizations provide access to the requested information or document in fifteen working days. However, in the event that the requested information or document is provided from another unit within the institution or organization to which the application is made; the opinion of another institution and organization needs to be taken regarding the application; or the content of the application relates to more than one institution and organization, then access to the information or document is provided within thirty working days. In this case, the extension of the time and the reason thereof are notified to the applicant in writing before the expiration of the period of fifteen working days. Upon notification of the cost of access to information or documents mentioned in Article 10 by the administration to the applicant, the period of fifteen working days is terminated. If the applicant does not pay the fee in fifteen working days, he is deemed to have waived his demand.
Answering the applications
ARTICLE 12.- Institutions and organizations submit their answers regarding applications to acquire information to the applicant in writing or in electronic format. In case the application is rejected, the grounds for rejection and ways of objection to rejection are indicated.
Objection procedure
ARTICLE 13.- The applicant whose request for acquiring information is rejected for reasons provided for in Articles 16 and 17 may make an objection to the Committee within fifteen days as of the notification of the decision, before resorting to court. The Committee makes a decision on this subject matter within thirty working days. The institutions and organizations are obliged to provide all kinds of information and documents requested by the Committee within fifteen working days. Objection to the Committee halts the period of resort by the applicant to the administrative court.
Evaluation Committee for Acquiring Information
ARTICLE 14.- The Evaluation Committee for Acquiring Information has been set up to review the decisions given based on the reasons provided for in Articles 16 and 17 upon objections regarding an application to acquire information, and to make decisions regarding the exercise of the right of information acquisition for institutions and organizations. The Committee consists of nine members to be elected by the Council of Ministers; one member to be appointed amongst the two candidates to be proposed by the general assemblies of the Supreme Court of Appeal and the Council of State from their institutions; one member to appointed amongst the persons having the title of law professors or associate professors in penal law, administrative law and constitutional law; one member from among two candidates to be designated by the Turkish Bars Association who are qualified enough to be elected as the chairman of the bar; two members to appointed amongst the persons who at least hold the position of a general director; and one from among judges working with the Ministry of Justice in administrative functions upon recommendation of the Minister of Justice. Nomination is subject to the approval of the candidates. The Chairman of the Committee is elected by the members of the committee, from among themselves. The Committee convenes at least once a month, or anytime upon the call of the Chairman when necessary. The term of office of the committee members is four years. The members whose term of office expires can be re-elected. If a member leaves office before the expiry of his term of office, a member elected in place of the former member with the same procedure completes the term of office of the former. The former Committee stays until the newly elected Committee takes over. The Committee members are paid per diem, with the provisions of the Allowance Act No 6245 of 10.2.1954 being reserved, for each actual day of duty, to be calculated by multiplication with the civil servant monthly coefficient of indicator number 1000 for those who are public servants and of indicator number 2000 for non-public servants. No deduction is made in these payments, save for stamp duty. The Committee may set up commissions and work groups on subject matters to be identified; in addition, if it deems necessary, it may invite representatives of the relevant ministry and other institutions and organizations and non-governmental organizations to the meetings to acquire information. The secretariat services of the Committee are performed by the Prime Ministry. The principles and procedures for the duties and the activities of the Committee are regulated with a regulation to be drawn up and put into force by the Ministry.
SECTION FOUR
Limits of the Right to Acquire information
Transactions which are not subject to jurisdictional audit
ARTICLE 15.- Those administrative procedures which are not subject to jurisdictional audit and which have the nature to affect the working life and professional dignity of the individual are included within the scope of this Law. Right to acquire information provided in this manner does not cause the procedure to be subject to jurisdictional audit.
Information or documents related state secrets
ARTICLE 16.- Information and documents which, if disclosed, will clearly prejudice the security of the State, foreign relations, national defense and national security and which are classified as State secrets by their nature are not covered by the right to acquire information.
Information or documents related to the financial interests of the country
ARTICLE 17.- Information or documents which, if disclosed or prematurely disclosed, will prejudice the economic interests of the country or which will lead to unfair competition and gain are not covered by this Law.
Information or documents on intelligence units
ARTICLE 18.- Information or documents related to the duties and activities of civil and military intelligence units are not covered by this Law. However, if these information and documents have the capacity to affect professional lives and professional dignity of people, the information and documents related to intelligence units are covered by the right to acquire information.
Information or documents related to administrative investigation
ARTICLE 19.- Information or documents which are related to the administrative investigations carried out by the authorized units of institutions and organizations, and which, if disclosed or prematurely disclosed, will;
a) give rise to explicitly unjust intervention to the private lives of people,
b) jeopardize the life or safety of people or those carrying out the investigation,
c) jeopardize the safety of the investigation,
d) cause disclosure of a source of information which must remain confidential and complicate the supply of similar information and sources of information related to the investigation
are not covered by this Law.
Information or documents related to judicial investigation and prosecution
ARTICLE 20.- Information or documents which, if disclosed or prematurely disclosed, will;
a) lead to committing of a crime,
b) jeopardize prevention and investigation of crimes or capturing and prosecution of offenders by lawful means,
c) prevent proper performance of the duty of judgment,
d) breach the right of fair judgment of a person who is the defendant of a lawsuit,
are not covered by this Law. The provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure No. 1412 of 4.4.1929, the Code of Civil Procedure No. 1086 of 18.6.1927, the Code of Administrative Proceedings No. 2577 of 06.1.1982 and other special codes are reserved.
Confidentiality of private life
ARTICLE 21.- With the exception of the cases where permitted by the person, information or documents which, if disclosed, will constitute unjust intervention to health details and private and family life, honor and dignity, professional and economic values of the person according to confidentiality principles on private life are not covered by the right of information acquirement. In cases where required for the public interest, personal information or documents may be disclosed by the institutions and organizations by acquiring written consent of the person with a seven-day prior notice.
Privacy of communication
ARTICLE 22.- Information and documents which violate the principle of privacy of communication are not covered by this Law.
Trade Secrets
ARTICLE 23.- Information and documents which are defined as trade secrets as per laws, and commercial and financial information provided by institutions and organizations on the condition that such information is kept confidential against real or legal persons, are not covered by this Law.
Intellectual and artistic works
ARTICLE 24.- The relevant provisions of law apply for applications made to acquire information in relation to intellectual and artistic works.
Corporate regulations
ARTICLE 25.- Information and documents related to personnel regulations and corporate regulations of institutions and organizations which do not interest the public are not covered by the right to acquire information. However, such right of the employees of the institution who are affected by the said regulations is reserved.
Corporate views, memorandums and recommendations within the company
ARTICLE 26.- Unless otherwise stated, the information or documents having the nature of views, information notes, proposals and recommendations obtained by the institutions for performance of their activities are covered by the right to acquire information. The views of those persons, units and institutions that have the legal responsibility to provide views in scientific, cultural, statistical, technical, medical, financial, legal or similar expertise areas are open to information acquisition requests, on the condition that they provide basis for the decisions to be taken by the institutions.
Requests for recommendations and views
ARTICLE 27.- Requests for recommendations and views are excluded from this Law.
Declassified Information or Documents
ARTICLE 28.- Declassified information or documents are open to information acquisition requests, unless they are included within the scope of other exceptions specified in this Law.
SECTION FIVE
Miscellaneous and Final Provisions
Penalty provisions
ARTICLE 29.- Without prejudice to the penal prosecutions to be conducted by virtue of general provisions of criminal law, the civil servants and other public officials who negligently, recklessly or deliberately obstruct the application of this Law shall be subject to disciplinary sanctions as provided in the relevant legislation. Information and documents obtained in connection with this Law cannot be reproduced or used for commercial purposes.
Preparation of reports
ARTICLE 30.- The institutions and organizations shall issue a report of the preceding year, containing;
a) the number of applications to acquire information,
b) the number of applications which are affirmatively responded and provided access to information or documents,
c) the number of rejected applications and statistical information showing the breakdown of these,
d) the number of applications for which access is provided by removing the confidential or secret information or by classifying such information,
e) the number of applications for which an objection is raised upon rejection and the results thereof,
and send these reports until the end of February every year to the Evaluation Committee for Acquiring Information. The institutions that are affiliated, related or associaetd to another public legal entity submit their reports through the relevant Ministry they are affiliated and associated to. The Committee sends the overall report to be drawn up to the Turkish Grand National Assembly until the end of April every year together with the reports of the said institutions and organizations. These reports are made public in the following two months by the Presidency of the Turkish Grand National Assembly.
Regulation
ARTICLE 31.- The regulation related to establishment of the principles and procedures for implementation of this Law shall be drawn up within six months following the publication of the Act by the Prime Ministry and put into force by the Council of Ministers.
Enforcement
ARTICLE 32.- This Law shall enter into force six months after the date of its publication.
Execution
ARTICLE 33.- The provisions of this Law are governed by the Council of Ministers.
