AMENDMENTS INTRODUCED BY LAW NO. 7519 ON AMENDMENTS TO THE TURKISH CIVIL AVIATION LAW AND CERTAIN LAWS AND DECREE LAW NO. 655

The amendments introduced by the “Law on Amendments to the Turkish Civil Aviation Law and Certain Laws and Decree Law No. 655,” which entered into force upon publication in the Official Gazette dated 9 July 2024 and numbered 32597, include significant regulations closely concerning the maritime sector.

Further details regarding this omnibus law, which introduces changes in many areas, are as follows:

According to the regulations related to the Ports Law No. 618:

The Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure has the authority to determine the fees and the procedures and principles of payment for pilotage and towage services.

Pilotage and towage services to be provided during passages through the Istanbul and Çanakkale Straits will also be carried out by the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure, and the private sector and individuals are not authorized to provide these services.

Real or legal persons providing these services will be obliged to allocate certain portions of their gross service revenues to the relevant regional port authorities.

According to Additional Article 1, referred to in Provisional Article 1, the regulation that will determine organizational regions and qualification requirements will be enacted within six months from the date the article enters into force.

Following the entry into force of the regulation, tender procedures must be initiated within one month at the latest.

Pilotage and towage services in regional service areas may be transferred by the Ministry to real or legal persons for a period not exceeding twenty years, through the negotiated tender procedure specified in Article 18 of the Privatization Law No. 4046.

Within the same organizational region, the same person or organization may submit a bid for either pilotage or towage services only.

Negotiations will be conducted with bidders who meet the qualification requirements, and the tender will be finalized through an auction process.

In addition, it has been regulated that greenhouse gas emission fees collected from commercial vessels, based on the current carbon price of the European Union Emissions Trading System (EU ETS)—whose implementation method has long been discussed—will be recorded as special revenue in the state budget.

These fees, determined according to the EU ETS carbon price and collected from ship owners for greenhouse gas emissions, must be paid by the end of September each year, based on the total amount of the previous year.

The amounts collected as special revenue will be allocated to the budget of the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure to support research, development, transformation, and new construction activities for green maritime initiatives.

According to the regulations related to the Law No. 4922 on the Protection of Life and Property at Sea:

The procedures and principles of inspections required for port entry and exit operations to be carried out in a swift and secure manner will be determined by a regulation issued by the administration. Port entry and exit procedures may also be carried out through documents submitted via the system.

Changes have been made to the types of equipment inspected on commercial vessels according to the duties assigned to them and the voyages they will undertake. The inspection period and inspection procedures have also been clarified and added. With these changes, the existing law has been updated in accordance with evolving technology and systems.

In Article 6 of the same law, inspections conducted for granting permission to commercial vessels to set sail were previously applicable only to Turkish commercial vessels possessing a “Seaworthiness Certificate.” However, in order to ensure safety, this phrase has been removed and it has been stipulated that inspections will be carried out for all commercial vessels. It has been regulated that such inspections will be conducted in accordance with the procedures and principles determined by regulation.

According to the regulations related to the Turkish International Ship Registry Law No. 4490 and the Decree Law No. 491:

Amendments and regulations regarding financial obligations for ships and yachts registered in the Turkish International Ship Registry have been introduced.

Within the scope of these amendments, in order to encourage the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, it has been stipulated that ships and yachts registered or to be registered in the Turkish International Ship Registry that do not use fossil fuels—except liquefied natural gas (LNG) as the main propulsion system—will be exempt from registration fees and will pay only 50% of the annual tonnage fee.

It has also been regulated that in the transfer of shares of a ship, a registration fee will be charged proportionally to the transferred share of the vessel.

According to the regulations related to the Turkish Commercial Code No. 6102:

Amendments have been made to Article 1259 regarding the obligation of passenger ships to obtain insurance, and the limit of the mandatory insurance amount has been changed.

Since the insurance requirements for cabotage transportation and international transportation differ in nature, improvements have been made by regulating the insurance limit that negatively affected national transportation.

Accordingly:

• A ship licensed for international voyages carrying passengers must have insurance coverage of not less than 250,000 Special Drawing Rights (SDR).

• A ship not licensed for international voyages carrying passengers must have insurance coverage of not less than 100,000 Special Drawing Rights (SDR).

  
  

According to the regulations related to the Decree Law No. 655:

The working hours of Port Authorities and additional service fees have been regulated.