Possible effects of the amendment regarding Suspension of Judicial Proceedings for companies in practice
As it is known, the coronavirus (COVID-19), which emerged in Wuhan, China, in December 2019, quickly became an epidemic worldwide, and with the official statement made by the Ministry of Health, the first coronavirus (COVID-19) case was detected in our country on March 11, 2020. has been made available to the public. decided to suspend judicial periods with the Law No. 7226 on Amendments to Certain Laws (" Law The relevant Law article is given at the end of this article.
We can summarize the impact of this regulation regarding the suspension of the trial period on the legal proceedings that companies frequently encounter in practice as follows;
How will your legal rights be affected?
- Your legal rights will not be lost for not taking any legal action, including issuing a warning against anyone due to the virus outbreak, and will be postponed until after April 30, as of March 13, 2020.
When should we respond to letters from the court, enforcement office or notary?
- You will not lose your rights due to your failure to respond to any lawsuit or enforcement proceeding or 89/1 notification that has been notified to you within this postponement period (as of March 22 for enforcement files and as of March 13 for other requests) or failure to send documents to the court.
- In accordance with Turkish Commercial Code Article 21, your 8-day objection period for an invoice will stop during this postponement and will start again when the period expires.
In terms of Interim Injunction requests;
- If you request "precautionary measures" for any reason, these requests are not subject to postponement. Pursuant to Law No. 6100, "Cases in which there is concern that (1) obtaining the right will become or completely (2) , or (3) there will be harm in delaying it , or (4) serious damage will occur " are precautionary. are the conditions and reasons for the measure.
In terms of enforcement proceedings;
- As of March 22, 2020, it will not be possible to make a new enforcement action until April 30. It is not possible to take any enforcement action regarding enforcement proceedings opened before March 22, 2020.
- If you have an enforcement file that was given on the day of sale; The sale transaction will be processed by the enforcement office, without the need for any additional request, by assigning the sale day to a date after the postponement period. The new date will be notified electronically.
Impact of your employees' wage garnishments;
- Salary deductions will continue because your employees will receive alimony. The Enforcement Affairs Directorate of the Ministry of Justice has declared its opinion that salary cuts should continue in terms of other receivables. For this reason, it is legally recommended that companies continue to make the salary cuts that existed before the current regulation during this period.
In terms of lien notices;
- Seizure notices received before March 22, 2020 must be fulfilled within the deadline. If there is no receivable or property to be seized, the objection to the notice can be postponed from March 22 until April 30.
In terms of mediation periods in terms of labor receivables;
- If the employment contract with any of your employees is terminated, the mandatory mediation process will begin after the postponement period.
- How will the deadlines work as a result of the postponement;
Postponed periods start to run from the day following the end of the suspension period. As of the start date of the suspension period, periods with fifteen days or less left to expire are deemed to have been extended by fifteen days, starting from the day following the end of the suspension period. For example, if you have been notified of a lawsuit as of March 13; Your response period will start as of May 1. However, if the petition was notified to you as of March 6, your remaining time will be 7 days as of May 1, and the response period will be completed to 15 days in accordance with the regulation.
“PROVISIONAL ARTICLE 1 – (1) In order to prevent loss of rights in the field of judiciary due to the Covid-19 epidemic occurring in our country;
In order to prevent loss of rights in the judicial field due to the Covid-19 epidemic occurring in our country;
a) All periods regarding the birth, use or termination of a right, including filing a lawsuit, initiating enforcement proceedings, application, complaint, objection, warning, notification, submission and limitation periods, limitation periods and compulsory administrative application periods; The periods specified for the parties in the Administrative Procedure Law No. 2577 dated 6/1/1982, the Criminal Procedure Law No. 5271 dated 4/12/2004, the Civil Procedure Law No. 6100 dated 12/1/2011 and other laws containing procedural provisions, and In this context, the periods determined by the judge and the periods in mediation and conciliation institutions start from 13/3/2020 (including this date),
b) The periods specified in the Enforcement and Bankruptcy Law No. 2004 dated 9/6/1932 and other laws regarding prosecution law and within this scope, the periods determined by the judge or enforcement and bankruptcy offices; Except for enforcement proceedings regarding alimony receivables, all enforcement and bankruptcy proceedings, party and follow-up transactions, receipt of new enforcement and bankruptcy proceedings requests, transactions regarding the enforcement and execution of provisional attachment decisions will start from 22/3/2020 (including this date).
It stops from 30/4/2020 (including this date). These periods start to run from the day following the end of the suspension period. As of the start date of the suspension period, periods with fifteen days or less left to expire are deemed to have been extended by fifteen days, starting from the day following the end of the suspension period. If the epidemic continues, the President may extend the suspension period once for not more than six months and narrow the scope of this period. These decisions are published in the Official Gazette.
(2) The following periods are outside the scope of this article:
a) Limitation periods set out in the law for crimes and punishments, misdemeanors and administrative sanctions, disciplinary imprisonment and repressive imprisonment.
b) Periods regarding the protection measures regulated in Law No. 5271.
c) Periods for transactions completing the precautionary measures regulated in Law No. 6100.
(3) Within the scope of Law No. 2004 and other laws regarding prosecution law;
a) If the sale day announced by the enforcement and bankruptcy offices for goods or rights falls within the suspension period, the enforcement and bankruptcy offices will grant a sales day for these goods or rights without seeking a new request after the suspension period. In this case, the sales announcement is made only electronically and no fee is charged for the announcement.
b) Payments made voluntarily within the suspension period are accepted and one of the parties may request that transactions be carried out in favor of the other party,
c) The consequences of the concordat period for the creditor and debtor continue during the suspension period,
d) Other necessary measures are taken to prevent enforcement and bankruptcy services from being disrupted.
(4) All other measures to be taken, including the postponement of hearings and negotiations during the suspension period, and the relevant procedures and principles;
a) The relevant Board of Presidents in terms of the Supreme Court and the Council of State,
b) The Board of Judges and Prosecutors in terms of first instance judicial and administrative judicial authorities and regional courts of justice and regional administrative courts,
c) Ministry of Justice in terms of justice services,
"determines."
