Right to Information Act

Points to be Known About the Application of Act 
 

1 - Which public corporations will be available for information?

1. Public administrations covered by central administration and their loyal, related or relevant foundations.
2. Local administrations except villages, and their loyal and related foundations and their unions or companies.
3. Including Central Bank of Republic of Turkey, Istanbul Stock Exchange (IMKB) and universities, establishments having the public entity such as; institute, enterprise, organization, funds and all public company and organizations with other names.
4. Professional organizations having the property of public corporation.

2 - What kind of information can be requested from public corporation?

Information application form should be related to the company and institutions which are applied. The information and document which are mentioned, is very important and both of them are clarified in the law. The definitions, which are in law’s third article’s (c) and (d) paragraphs, defines as follows:
 

Information: Every kind of data that is within the scope of this law and are included in the records of the institutions.

Document: Any written, printed or copied file, document, book, journal, brochure, etude, letter, software, instruction, sketch, plan, film, photograph, tape and video cassette, map of the institutions and the information, news and other data that are recorded and saved in electronic format that are within the scope of this law.

As it can be seen in the definitions of information and documents, any information, which the organizations have or should have, can be wanted from the related to companies. Examples of needed information and documents can be found below.

1. KPSS questions can be requested:  Some of the exam questions conducted by ÖSYM are disclosed to the public. Dozens of exams such as KPDS, which is taken by all public personnel, KPSS, which is taken by candidates who want to become civil servants, ÜDS, which is taken by university academic staff, and ALES, which is required for admission to master's and doctoral programmes, are conducted by ÖSYM. Although these exam questions are not announced by ÖSYM, there are dozens of books on the market consisting only of these exam questions. With the Right to Information Law, these questions and answers can be requested from ÖSYM. 
    
2. Vacancies will be able to be questioned: Statistical information about civil cervants is known as a secret. So how many people are working on salaries, the number of the people who are working according to salary portion and if there is vacancy or not is not known in Turkey. For example; it has not been possible for a person, who resigns but wants to come back to his/her position, to learn if there is a suitable vacancy or not since 23.04.2004. However, it is now possible.  The academic staffs, who want to do academic researches, can want the information which they couldn’t take from public corporation according to this law.
    
3. Informational notes given to the ministers can be requested: the informational notes, proposal, and advices, which inform to public corporation and are given to the banks, are in the scope of information act.
    
4. State Council and Court of Appeal decisions will be able to be requested: The person who has the authority to give his/her opinion about scientific, cultural, statistical, technical, medical, financial, juridical and so on legally or unit’s or organizations’ opinions, are opened for requests for information only if it is vital for the decisions these organizations are going to make. According to this provision which is in the 37^th article, State Council’s, court of appeal’s, court of account’s decisions, Council of Higher Education (YOK)’s decisions, State Personnel Administrations’ opinions, ministry of finance’s opinions, State Statistical Institution’s statistical information and technical, medical, scientific and cultural opinions which are given by other public corporations can be requested only if the subject and date is clearly declared.
    
5. The information about the process out of judicial control will be able to be requested: According to the 15th article of the law, for example; decisions from Supreme Military Council’s can be requested which is about the person’s working life and professional dignity.
    
6. Some of the information related to civil and military security intelligence will be able to be requested: According to the 18^th article, civil and military security intelligence’s duties and activities are out of this law. However, if these information and documents can affect person’s working life and professional dignity, the information and documents related to security intelligence is within the scope of the right of the information. According to this, the person who isn’t explained why it is negative but isn’t accepted to the job or remove from office will be able to request this information as a part of this law.
    

3 - What kind of information cannot be requested from public corporation?

As a general; exceptions which are mentioned in the law such as security and safety of state, country’s economic state, person’s working life and professional dignity can be summarize with 11 articles.

1. The information and documents which qualify as state secrets which their disclosure clearly cause harm to the security of the state or foreign affairs or national defence and national security.
2. The information or documents of which their disclosure cause harm to the economical interests of the state or will cause unfair competition or enrichment
3. The information and documents regarding the duties and activities of the civil and military intelligence units
4. The information or the document that is related to the administrative investigation held by the administrative authorities
5. The information or the document of which its disclosure or untimely disclosure will give rise to a criminal offence, endanger prevention and investigation of the crime or endanger the legal procedure for the detention and the prosecution of the criminals, obstruct the proper operation judicial duty. Violate right to fair trial of a defendant in a pending case.
6. With the proviso where the consent of the concerned individual has been received, the information and documents that will unjustly interfere with the health records, private and family life, honour and dignity, and the economical and professional interests of an individual, are out of the scope of the right to information.
7. The information and documents that will violate the privacy of communication.
8. The information and documents that are qualified as commercial secret in laws, and the commercial and financial information that are obtained by the institutions from the private or corporate persons with the condition of keeping secret.
9. The requests for recommendations and opinions.
10. The information and documents of the institutions that do not concern the public and are solely in connection with their personnel and the internal affairs are out of the scope of the right to information. (However, the employees of the institutions who are subject the regulations have the right to access to such information.)
11. In the event of application for access to information concerning intellectual property, the relevant provisions of the intellectual property law shall apply.

4 - How to apply?

Applications under Right to Information Act to public authorities can be done in four ways;

1. The sample petition which is published in the regulations appendix 
2. A petition which is written in a legible and understandable way (output of a typewriter or computer is not required)
3. E-mail
4. Fax

5 - What should be in the applicant’s petition?

If the applicant is a real person in the application for obtaining information

1. The applicant’s name and surname
2. The applicant’s signature
3. Residence and work address

If the applicant is a legal person in the application for obtaining information 

1. Title of the legal entity 
2. Address, 
3. Signature of the authorised person, 
4. It is made to the institution or organisation where the requested information or document is located with a petition containing the authorisation certificate. The information or documents requested shall be clearly stated in the petition. 

In order to ensure access to the information or document in a short time, the subject of the requested information or document, the date and number, if any, and the unit of the institution or organisation from which it is requested and other matters required shall be specified in the petition. 
 

6 - Information Requesting via E-mail or Fax:

According to 10^th Article of the Regulation, the application can be made also through electronic or other types of communication tools, if the identity and the signature of the applicant can be legally determined. For applications via e-mail; Turkish Republic Identification Number will be questioned by the authorized person of the Information.

1. For Citizens: For the applications to be made by citizens via electronic mail; application will be only made to the electronic e-mail address of the Right to Information Unit of the company or institution that has the requested information and document by filling the form attached to the regulation. This application contains ID number in addition to the name and surname of the applicant, residence or work address in order to verify the identity.
2. For legal persons: For the applications to be made by legal persons via electronic mail; application will be made to the electronic e-mail address of the Right to Information Unit of the company or institution that has the requested information and document by filling the form attached to the regulation. This application contains title of the legal person, address and the ID number of authorized person and authorization document. Authorization document is sent by translating to the electronic media by using appropriate means.

Application petitions are also sent by fax to the company and institutions. However, in the applications by fax, TR ID numbers of natural person and authorized person to present legal person are also indicated.
 

7 - Where do rural area residents apply?

Applications, related to information and documents kept by the central administration's rural governance will be made to the person authorized with right to information and to the related units located in the rural areas. According to the this; for an information that can be supplied by Provincial Directorate for National Education application will be made to the Provincial Directorate for National Education, for an information at a level of province, application will be made to the person who is authorized for right to information located at the governorship. Right to information units at governorship and at district governorship send the applications to the related administration and inform the applicants about the situation.
 

8 - Is it possible to make an untimely information request?

Information and documents that were primarily declared to be announced on a definite day cannot be announced or accessed before the defined date in case untimely unveiling of these will harm public benefit or help people to gain personal interests. With this scope, for instance, Student Selection and Placement Center (OSYM), it won't be possible to request information for an exam result before the date that is declared as announcement day for the exam results. And it won't be possible to request the Law, regulation, bylaw, public mandate as they are at the workshop stage from the related companies untimely either.
 

9 - Can previously disclosed or published information be requested? 

Information or documents published by institutions and organisations or disclosed to the public through books, brochures, announcements and similar means cannot be the subject of an application for access to information. However, the applicant shall be notified of the manner, time and place of publication or disclosure of the information or documents open to public access, which have been disclosed to the public through the aforementioned means or published by institutions and organisations in electronic media (internet). 

The personnel in charge of the access to information units are obliged to guide the applicants and assist them in exercising their rights under the Law. For this purpose, the personnel in charge shall point out the formal deficiencies in the petitions or forms to the applicants at the time of application and guide them on how to remedy them. 

10 - Acceptance, evaluation and processing of applications for access to information 

Application petitions or forms shall be accepted by the information acquisition units of institutions and organisations. After checking whether the application petitions contain the requested information or not, the information acquisition units shall register them and issue a receipt indicating the date and number of the application to the applicants, provided that they are present. Application petitions or forms received by any unit of institutions and organisations other than the information acquisition units shall be immediately sent to the information acquisition units without being processed. After the application petition or form is registered, it is sent to the relevant units of the institution or organisation within two working days at the latest. In this letter, it is stated which unit will respond to the application and by which date the applicant should receive a reply. The necessary delegation of authority procedures for the rapid transmission of such letters to the relevant units are carried out in accordance with the relevant legislation. 

11 - What if the requested information or documents are unclear? 

If the information or documents requested by the application petition or form are not sufficiently clear and comprehensible, the institutions and organisations may inform the applicant on the reasons why the application is not sufficiently clear and comprehensible and may request the applicant to submit additional information. In this case, the fifteen-day period shall commence from the date on which the specified deficiencies are fully remedied. 

12 - What will be done if the requested information or document is elsewhere?

If the requested information or document is located elsewhere than the institution or organisation to which the application is made, the application petition or form shall be sent to the information acquisition unit of this institution or organisation and the relevant person shall be notified. The application shall be deemed to have been made on the date of receipt of the application directed in this way by the institution or organisation where the information or document is located. The previous application shall not be taken into consideration at the beginning of the periods. 

13 - How many days should applications for access to information be answered? 

Institutions and organisations shall provide access to the requested information or document within fifteen working days upon application. However, in cases where the requested information or document is provided from another unit within the applied institution or organisation, the opinion of another institution or organisation is required to be obtained regarding the application or the content of the application concerns more than one institution or organisation, access to the information or document shall be provided within thirty working days. In this case, the applicant shall be notified of the extension of the deadline and the justification thereof before the expiry of the fifteen working days. 

14 - What should be done if the applications are answered negatively?

We have listed the information that will not be included in the scope of obtaining information within the framework of the Law under the headings above. In general, if any information other than these exceptions, which can be gathered under headings such as the security of the state, the possibility of committing a crime and the confidentiality of private life, is not provided within 15 days, an objection can be made to the Information Acquisition Evaluation Board. The secretariat services of the Board will be fulfilled by the Prime Ministry. Persons may apply to the Board within 15 days from the negative answer. The Board shall render its decision within 30 days at the latest. Appeal to the Board shall suspend the time limit for the applicant to apply to the administrative judgement. 

15 - Will there be a fee for applications? 

Institutions and organisations may collect a fee from the applicant for the information or documents to which they provide access in proportion to the examination, research, copying, mailing and other cost elements required for access to information or documents. For this purpose, institutions and organisations shall determine the fee tariff for access to information according to the principles to be determined in the budget law each year. Public institutions may also charge a fee in proportion to the cost elements for responses to be given via e-mail. 

Institutions and organisations shall inform the applicant within fifteen days from the date of application about the information or documents they will provide access to, the cost of access and where the payment will be made. The fifteen or thirty business days shall be cut off when the institution or organisation notifies the applicant of the cost amount required for access to the information or documents. If the applicant fails to submit the document showing that he/she has made the payment within fifteen working days from the date of notification, he/she shall be deemed to have given up his/her request. However, in any case, no fee, including the cost of postage, may be charged for copies of the first ten pages of information or documents. 

Information and documents accessed within the framework of the procedures and principles set out in the Law and this Regulation may not be reproduced or used for commercial purposes, and may not be published without the permission of the institution or organisation providing access. The provisions of the laws regarding criminal and civil liability shall apply to those who reproduce, use or publish the information or documents accessed in violation of the provisions of this article for commercial purposes. 

16 - Penalties to be imposed on those who fail to respond to applications for access to information in a timely manner 

Implementations regarding the applications within the scope of the exercise of the right to information shall be supervised by the managers of institutions and organisations within the scope of the legislation. Civil servants and other public officials who have negligence, fault or intention in the implementation of the Law and the Regulation shall be subject to disciplinary penalties specified in the legislation to which they are subject, without prejudice to the fact that the acts they commit require criminal prosecution within the framework of general provisions. Accordingly, in accordance with Article 125 of the Law No. 657, the officer who is negligent in providing information may be sentenced to warning in case of negligence, reprimand in case of fault, and dismissal from salary in case of intention. 

17 - Sample Application Form for Citizens 

1. Name and surname of the applicant: 
2. Residence or work address: 
3. Republic of Turkey Identity No: (It is mandatory for applications to be made electronically.)
4. Which way would you like to receive a reply to the application? ( Written / Electronic ) 
5. Electronic mail address: (Must be filled in for applications to be made electronically) 
6. Signature of the Applicant 

No. 4982 No. The information or documents I request in accordance with the Right to Information Law are stated below. I would like to request the necessary. 
 

Information or documents requested: 

(Note: If the space in the allocated section is not sufficient, blank page(s) may be used for reference).