On 11 July 2015, The Regulation on Electronic Notarial Transactions (“Regulation”), was published in the Official Gazette No. 29413 and entered into force on 1 March 2016. Notary public transactions that can be made in an electronic environment with a secure electronic signature before a notary public or without a notary public are counted and also the procedures and principles regarding the storage and sharing of records related to these transactions are regulated with this Regulation.
With this regulation, some transactions have become possible to be done via the “Turkish Notaries Union Information System (TNBBS)” (“System)” without physically going to the notary public office. The transactions that can be made through the System are divided into two by the Article 5 of the Regulation. According to this distinction, some transactions can be done directly on the System, while some transactions can be initiated via the System with a secure electronic signature and completed physically before the Notary, on the System with a secure electronic signature.
Transactions that can be done without a notary public with a secure electronic signature, which are listed in Article 6 of the Regulation, are listed below:
a) Conversion operations,
b) Registration procedures,
c) Detection procedures,
ç) Exemplify procedures,
d) Book approvals,
e) Warning and notice without signature approval.
Completion of the above-mentioned transactions is completed through the System by collecting notary fees, fees, taxes and, if any, other expenses.
In the 5th article of the regulation, it is stated that the necessary arrangements to be made in the presence of a notary public and the transactions regarding the receipt of the declarations of will can be prepared via the System with a secure electronic signature; however, it has been regulated that those concerned must be present before a notary public in order to complete these procedures. These transactions, which must be completed in the presence of a notary public, can be completed in the presence of a notary public and on the System by using the secure electronic signatures of the relevant persons and the notary public.
It is regulated in Article 9 of the Regulation that the transactions prepared and completed with a secure electronic signature on the System will be stored in the System and the records regarding this transaction will not be prepared as a physical document unless requested. In the continuation of the Regulation, it is stated that the documents related to the transactions whose preparations were initiated through the System but completed in the presence of a notary public will be recorded in the System by signing with a secure electronic signature by the notary public and that the physical documents signed by the relevant persons will be stored by the Regulation on Archive Services of Notary Public Offices.
10/2 of the Regulation regarding the sharing of these recorded and stored documents. On the other hand, an amendment has been made with the Regulation on the Amendment of the Regulation on the Conduct of Notary Public Transactions in the Electronic Environment, which was published in the Official Gazette No. 31656 on 11.11.2021.
The regulation that the information and documents related to the transactions prepared and completed with a secure electronic signature completely over the System can be shared with notary publics and other persons and institutions when necessary, maintains its validity in the period of the new Regulation. Before the regulation change came into effect, sharing was allowed for transactions that were prepared with a hand-made signature and uploaded to the system with a secure electronic signature, but with the new regulation, this limitation has been removed. All transactions recorded in the system will be shared with notaries and other relevant institutions through the system. With this new regulation, the point to be considered in practice is not that the information and documents recorded in the System can be shared with everyone; It is envisaged that it can only be shared with those concerned.
Ezginaz Çalışır, Attorney At Law
