Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey

- “There are 50 articles to be changed.”

Describing the Turkish Trade Law (TTK) as having “Changes that will affect the way we live from the moment in the morning when we open our shops to the moment we close them”, TOBB President Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu spoke on the issue, “We have supported the preparation process of the TTK as TOBB. This was, in essence, a revolutionary reorganization. However, there were articles we did not agree with, which would harm commerce, and we stated so. We provided warnings as TOBB from the very first day. We were told ‘We’ll take it out for now but keep it in effect for a year wherein it can be discussed. If we find errors or inadequacies, we can make changes before it becomes law.” We, as TOBB, conducted informative meetings with Deloitte Turkey. Unfortunately businessmen did not give the necessary attention to these. The meetings were attended mostly by independent financial advisers and accountants. It was only when prison sentences came up that everyone panicked. And we ask our businessmen, ‘Where were you during the last six months?’ However, the situation is clear. A regulation which would lock up business life would be unacceptable as this is a legislation which will affect our lives from the moment we open our shops up in the morning to the moment we close them down. For this reason, we will be holding meetings until April in Cooperation with the Customs and Commerce Ministry and TURMOB to discuss the issues the new law will cause.”

Emphasizing that he believes that there will definitely be changes to the new TTK regulation, TOBB President Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “Those who make the sacrifice will ensure this. The only thing which cannot be changed for us is the Holy Quran. When we express the troubles today, those who are not employers say, ‘The articles cannot be changed.’ This isn’t right. You can’t this. As long as we hold discussion with understanding, there are 50 articles that require changes. We are not asking for all 1500 articles of the law to be changed. But these 50 articles can and should be changed after discussion. For example, the benefits and detriments of the publication of companies’ financial statements online. In this process the Turkish business world needs to see what it will be affected by and should provide support for change.”

- “The removal of prison sentences may lead to commerce shrinking”

Assessing the check law being discussed at the Parliament General Board, TOBB President Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “We also support commercial punishment for commercial crimes. However there are issues which require consideration here. The check is being used as a dated payment method, unlike the rest of the world. It is an important factor in keeping gears turning in the market. It may be that we are the only ones who use the check as, not a currency instrument, but a dated payment method. There should be additional direct debt systems and insurance systems in addition to checks and bonds. These do exist. It is true that commerce is a risk. However it is unwise to only tweak checks without introducing these instruments to the system first.”

Checks at the moment have a certain recognition, stated Hisarcıklıoğlu and went on, “It is an important indicator that Turkish businessmen objected to the Turkish Commerce Law once they noticed the prison sentence. The same could be said for checks. Today, checks are viewed as a legitimate payment method because of the prison sentence associated with them. Once you lift that prison sentence, once you say that the only punishment to commercial crime is commercial punishment, we will have damaged that legitimacy and recognition.”

Hisarcıklıoğlu, on what should be done in this process said, “If you are removing prison sentences that qualifies the business that takes between us businessmen as using credit. If we are granting credit, then we should have access to information like how much credit debt does the person have, how much overdraft checks and bonds they have just like the establishments which provide credit do.”

Stating that businessmen should be able to monitor the debts of the establishments which they open credit for similar to banks, Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “The control of the Risk Centralization System has been given to the Banks Union. When a dated check is accepted, it is necessary to know information about the establishment’s check payments. TOBB and Banks Union will have access to this information. The company which accepts the check will be able to log on to check the information on the person who gave the check and will decide whether to sell goods on credit to the person. However the Banks Union is not doing this at the moment. We say, add these to the system then remove the prison sentence. Otherwise the removal of prison sentences may lead to commerce shrinking.”

- “The SPK should enter into discussion with us”

Stating that they do not oppose the spirit of the notice published by the SPK regarding open corporations, Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “TOBB is not against independent monitoring. However it is evident that our opinions were not taken into account when making a decision which would affect us. SPK and İMKB, while wanting companies in Anatolia to institutionalize, should have asked for our opinion regarding the notice they published.”

Stating that they have discussed the issue with the Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan, Hisarcıklıoğlu reported that Babacan has said, “The SPK is an independent council. SPK and TOBB must come together to solve the issue.”

Drawing attention to the dangers the new SPK notice will present for the institutionalization of Anatolian companies, Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “This perspective will also prevent the global commercial activities of companies which wish to compete globally. For this reason, the whole of SPK’s notice should be debated. The SPK may be an independent member but it should discuss transparency, accountability and deciding minority shares in the company with us. What are your criteria? Why do you want the location to be in Turkey? We need to know these.”
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