Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey

In his opening speech, Tuncay Yıldırım conveyed the greetings of TOBB President M. Rifat Hisacıklıoğlu and gave information about the agenda flow of the meeting to be held with the participation of valuable bureaucrats of public institutions as well as the members of the Council. Afterwards, he left the floor to the President of the Council Mustafa Kemal Turnacı to manage the meeting and make a general evaluation within the framework of the agenda created with the suggestions from the members of the Council.

Council President Turnacı pointed out that the strategic importance of the sector is being felt more and more every day, and emphasized the importance of approaching the problems of the software sector with responsibility and sensitivity. With this awareness, he expressed his expectation that the Turkish Software Council will contribute to the development of the sector and thus our country with great effort and gave the floor to the participants for the first agenda of the meeting.

Within the scope of the first agenda of the meeting, Dr. Onur Yüksel, General Manager of TOBB Harmonization Mediation and Dispute Resolution Center and Board Member of TOBB Harmonization Negotiation School, and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Hakan Karabacak, Board Member of TOBB Harmonization Negotiation School, gave information about TOBB Harmonization Negotiation School, which aims to provide negotiation skills to institutions. For the resolution of commercial disputes, consumer disputes and employee-employer disputes; Stating that they have brought a dispute center open to everyone together with the Chambers and Commodity Exchanges to Türkiye, Yüksel stated that they aim to develop and disseminate alternative dispute resolution methods in our country; “In 1.5 years, we have become Türkiye's most comprehensive dispute resolution center with 100% TOBB capital, 110 Chambers of Commerce and Industry, more than 1,000 mediators, negotiators and arbitrators,” he said.

Speaking about the TOBB UYUM Negotiation School, where people in all positions, from business people to employees, can be accredited in advanced negotiation techniques with a 32-hour training, Hakan Karabacak answered the questions of the members of the Council after his detailed presentation.

Later in the meeting, the issue of updating the zoning law was brought to the agenda. With the Law No. 7256 dated November 17, 2020, and the amendment made to the Zoning Law No. 3194, the problems experienced by the sector regarding the regulation specific to electronic communication stations were discussed. It was agreed that there is a need for a law amendment study that is applicable and will secure the sector within the legal framework.

- Restriction on installments discussed

Within the scope of the agenda item, at the meeting where the installment limitation, which started in 2018, was also discussed, the members stated that the installment restriction indirectly negatively affected and continues to affect the sector in many areas from sectoral development to employment, acting with the awareness of keeping the interests of the country ahead of the interests of the sector. In the current inflationary period, with the current installment restriction and the decrease in purchasing power, it was decided to convey to the relevant institutions that it has become more difficult for our country's people to access technology in the age of digitalization, and in this respect, suggestions such as stretching the installment restriction at the inflationary rate.

The meeting also discussed the Draft Regulation Amending the Regulation on the Sale of Refurbished Products issued by the Ministry of Commerce General Directorate of Consumer Protection and Market Surveillance based on the Law No. 6502 on the Protection of Consumers. Erhan Turhan, Head of the Guaranteed After-Sales Services and Certification Department of the General Directorate of Consumer Protection and Market Surveillance of the Ministry of Commerce, made a detailed presentation to the members of the Council, after which the opinions and evaluations of the members were received.

Finally, the issue of 60% domestic and national product usage rate in 5G Public and Private networks was discussed at the meeting.