Turkey’s Ministry of Justice (“Ministry”) recently published its annual update to the framework for international service and rogatory procedures. Accordingly, international service and rogatory fees will increase around 10% in 2018.
The Communiqué on Procedures and Principles to be Followed in Foreign Notification and Rogatory Requests (“Communiqué”) was published in Official Gazette number 30282 on 27 December 2017, entering into effect on 1 January 2018. The Communiqué amends Circulars number 63/2 and 63/3, published on 16 November 2011.
Recent amendments introduced by the Communiqué include:
- A range of service and rogatory fees have increased, generally by around 10%, in line with Turkey’s annual inflation rate.
- Separate procedural rules are introduced for Estonia, Bahamas and San Marino.
- Offices authorized to receive notification or rogatory requests have been amended in France and Lithuania.
The Communiqué introduces new rules for public files and files with legal aid requests. In these files, the Treasury pays expenditures in advance without parties needing to request this. In this context, the Treasury must now:
- Pay postal fees to the Ministry and attaching a payment receipt to the document which will be served.
- Supply the requested expenditure in advance and attach a receipt to the document to be mailed.
- Not deposit requested advance expenditure or make payments after conclusion of the process.
- Not request commitment letters, which may be requested from parties in some rogatory procedures.
Please see this link for full text of the Communique (only available in Turkish)
