19.07.2024 01:00
The draft law on public savings measures has been approved in the Turkish Grand National Assembly. With the 31-article regulation prepared by the AK Party, those who do not comply with the savings measures will face penalties. The Ministry of Treasury and Finance will have full authority in initiating investigations and determining the penalties.
The Draft Law on Amendments to Some Laws and Decree Laws Containing Measures on Savings in the Public Sector has been approved in the Turkish Grand National Assembly.
With this law, regulations will be made in accordance with the decision of the Constitutional Court regarding the provision related to "treasury aids to be made from the general budget" among the incomes of the Presidency Decree and the Turkish Standards Institute. Accordingly, this provision will be added to the Law on Some Regulations Regarding the Turkish Standards Institute.
The Privatization Administration Presidency will be authorized to carry out the sales of vehicles and machinery defined in the Highway Traffic Law and transferred to the Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change on behalf of the administrations in a comprehensive and fast manner within the framework of the principles and procedures to be determined. All kinds of consultancy services required, including the execution of transactions and the tender process, will be carried out in accordance with the provisions of the Law on Privatization Practices and the expenses will be covered by the Privatization Fund.
Expenses will be deducted from the sales proceeds and the remaining amount will be transferred to the Central Accounting Directorate of the Ministry of Treasury and Finance for general budget administrations, and to the relevant accounting units of other administrations. The transferred amounts will be recorded as revenue in the general budget or the budgets of the relevant public institutions and organizations, depending on their relevance. These sales will be made through open tender or e-tender methods.
Investment contracts containing provisions on investment incentives signed between the Minister of Industry and Technology and investors will be exempt from stamp duty, similar to the application based on investment incentive certificates. This provision will enter into force on the date of publication of the regulation, valid from July 1, 2024. Teaching staff positions will be established for universities in accordance with the reasons for the annulment of the Constitutional Court. Changes will be made in the staff table of Ondokuz Mayıs University and teaching staff will be added to some university positions.
PROVISIONS REGARDING BOTAŞ AND TPAO
In order to ensure the healthy management of BOTAŞ's cash flow, the company's unpaid taxes, funds and shares, administrative fines, late payment penalties and late payment interest arising from natural gas imports will be offset against the receivables to be collected from the Treasury. In this context, no interest will be calculated for the debts subject to offsetting after the date of publication of the provision. The Minister of Treasury and Finance will be authorized to determine the amount of receivables to be collected from the Treasury and the procedures to be carried out through offsetting.
Regulations are also being made in line with the annulment decision regarding the amendment made in the Electricity Market Law and Some Laws regarding natural gas purchases. All kinds of natural gas purchases to be made by BOTAŞ will be exempt from the Public Procurement Law. In line with the decision of the Constitutional Court, changes are also made in the Public Procurement Law. Accordingly, the procedures and principles regarding the procurement methods, including the procurement process and conclusion, to be carried out for natural gas purchases to be made by BOTAŞ will be determined by the President in line with the principles of market conditions, confidentiality, reliability, meeting the needs under appropriate conditions and on time, and efficient use of resources.
In accordance with the annulment decision of the Constitutional Court, BOTAŞ will be able to benefit from the exemptions provided to the Turkish Petroleum Corporation (TPAO), including its subsidiaries. Accordingly, the monetary limit determined in the Public Procurement Law for exemptions will not be applied to any kind of goods and services procurement and construction works to be made by TPAO, BOTAŞ and their subsidiaries and the companies they establish abroad in relation to their petroleum and natural gas exploration, drilling, production, transportation, storage and gasification activities. In line with the annulment decision of the Constitutional Court, the monetary limit under the "exemptions" heading in the Public Procurement Law will not be applied to agricultural product purchases made by the General Directorate of Agricultural Products through imports and the related service purchases.
The procurement methods to be applied in the purchases to be made by BOTAŞ, including the announcement and invitation periods and rules, document preparation, submission and evaluation of bids, and the conclusion of purchases, as well as the procedures and principles regarding the tender process and framework agreements, will be regulated by a regulation to be issued by the company upon the opinion of the institution, and the transactions in the tender process can be carried out partially or completely through the Electronic Public Procurement Platform (EKAP).
EXTERNAL FINANCING OF TURKISH-JAPANESE SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY UNIVERSITY
With the amendment made in the Law on Public Financing and Debt Management, the Minister of Treasury and Finance will be authorized to provide Treasury repayment guarantee for external financing to be provided by the Turkish-Japanese Science and Technology University without being included in the investment program of the Japanese government or Japanese state institutions. In this context, the provisions of the Law on Collection Procedures of Public Receivables will be applied regarding the Treasury receivables arising from the Treasury repayment guarantees given within the scope of this law. The Treasury and Finance Minister will be authorized to issue special series government domestic debt securities within the 2024 fiscal year for the purpose of strengthening the capital of public banks in the Turkey Wealth Fund Management Joint Stock Company Market Stability and Balance Sub-Fund.
Only plug-in hybrid electric vehicles that can be charged from outside (plug-in) and have a carbon dioxide emission per combined kilometer of less than 25 grams and a range that can be covered with equivalent electric energy of 70 kilometers or more, and whose engine cylinder capacity does not exceed 1800 cubic centimeters, will have separate SCT rates according to their engine cylinder capacity and base thresholds. Fuel supply to vehicles, except for deliveries made to public institutions and organizations, factories, construction sites, mines or quarries, will not be allowed except at fuel stations with dealership licenses and sufficient equipment, provided that they have sufficient storage and fuel supply capacity for their own vehicles and use fuel for their own needs. In deliveries of fuel outside the fuel station, the transportation of fuel to the buyer's tank or its transportation will be carried out by the seller with a dealership license.
This amendment will come into effect on January 1, 2025.
The difficulty that may arise from the need for special equipment vehicles such as firefighting and snow removal vehicles in airports and handling machines used for handling in port activities to travel in traffic for refueling, the potential negative impact on aviation or maritime activities due to possible instant fuel needs, the possibility of extending the duration and the possibility of commercial losses due to failure to perform the work on time; taking into account the obligation to provide on-site fuel to the handling machines used in ship holds, vehicles used in ports and airports will be allowed to refuel outside of fuel stations if they meet the specified conditions.
DISCIPLINARY MEASURES WILL BE APPLIED TO THOSE WHO DO NOT COMPLY WITH SAVING MEASURES
As a result of the monitoring and auditing of the compliance of the expenditure and practices of public institutions and organizations with saving measures by the administrations or the Ministry of Treasury and Finance, disciplinary measures will be applied to those who are found to have violated the measures in accordance with the relevant legislation. The results will be reported to the Presidency by the administrations. With the law, it is regulated that the transfers of resources related to investments to be made through provincial special administrations by ministries and other central administrative organizations will be made based on progress payment reports related to the relevant work, except for advance payments.
The appropriations for the works to be carried out through provincial special administrations will be monitored in separate items in the budgets of public institutions and organizations, and transfers to other items and use for other purposes will not be allowed. The unused portions of the appropriations in the items can be recorded as carried-over appropriations to the budget of the following year. The portions of the resources transferred by ministries and other central administrative organizations to provincial special administrations that are not used as of the effective date of this regulation will be returned to the administering authority by the provincial special administrations.
RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE REVENUE ADMINISTRATION PRESIDENT'S PERSONNEL ARE REGULATED
With the law, the duties and responsibilities of revenue experts and revenue expert assistants working in units affiliated to the Revenue Administration will also be regulated. The chief treasurer position belonging to the Revenue Administration will be equivalent to the tax office president position in terms of financial and social rights and benefits. According to the regulation, personnel with the title of "Deputy Chief Treasurer" whose positions are abolished as of September 1, 2024 will be deemed to have been appointed to the positions of Revenue Administration Group Manager in the provincial organization of the Revenue Administration without any further action, in accordance with their grade levels.
REGULATION ACCORDING TO THE REASONS FOR THE CONSTITUTIONAL COURT'S ANNULMENT DECISION
With the law, a regulation was made due to the annulment decision of the Constitutional Court regarding the inclusion of lawyers as obliged persons within the scope of the Law on Prevention of Laundering Proceeds of Crime. Accordingly, it is regulated that lawyers are only subject to MASAK (Financial Crimes Investigation Board) obligations limited to "real estate buying and selling, establishment and removal of limited real rights, establishment of companies, foundations and associations". On the other hand, it is emphasized in the regulation that the tasks performed and the information obtained within the scope of the right to defense (as professional secrecy) are not within the scope of MASAK obligations. The court that will hear disputes regarding administrative fines imposed by the Financial Crimes Investigation Board will be administrative jurisdiction instead of criminal peace court.
The decrease in the share of municipalities with decreasing population in earthquake zones from the general budget will be prevented. Accordingly, for municipalities with decreasing population in Adana, Adıyaman, Diyarbakır, Elazığ, Gaziantep, Hatay, Kahramanmaraş, Kilis, Malatya, Osmaniye, and Şanlıurfa provinces, which were accepted as a disaster area affecting the general life due to earthquakes that occurred on February 6, 2023, based on the population data of January 2023, the highest data in the municipalities where the population data of January 2023 is exceeded will be taken into account.
With the amendment made in the Law on Monitoring and Auditing of State Supports, regulations regarding the notification and auditing of state supports will be put into effect upon the decision of the President. The Strategy and Budget Presidency will transfer all kinds of records and data related to practices that provide financial benefits to public institutions and organizations to its information system. Public institutions and organizations responsible for the implementation of the Presidency and state aid may request information, documents, records, and data from individuals and legal entities for the monitoring of state aids and the evaluation of their effects, without distinction between private and public. Those who violate the provisions regarding the protection of personal data will be subject to the Turkish Penal Code and other relevant legislation for disclosing information that should remain confidential according to various laws and using the information for purposes other than those specified in this paragraph.
All kinds of records and data in the State Supports Information System and the existing technical documentation and source codes related to the system will be transferred to the Strategy and Budget Presidency within six months from the date this article enters into force by a protocol. With the regulation, the capital ceiling of the Provincial Bank will be increased from 9 billion to 60 billion Turkish liras.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEMBERSHIPS
Public administrations and their affiliated, related, and associated institutions and organizations, joint ventures whose more than half of the capital is owned directly or indirectly by the public alone or together or separately; funds, revolving funds, provincial special administrations, municipalities, provincial special administrations, and municipalities' affiliated organizations, unions established or joined by them, and companies, public economic enterprises, and institutions, establishments, unions, businesses, and companies of which they own more than half of the capital alone or together or separately, organizations, institutions, unions, businesses, and companies that are included in the privatization scope and program, and whose more than half of the capital is owned by the public, and all personnel employed in other public institutions and organizations in any status, as well as mayors, municipal council members, and provincial general assembly members; regardless of whether they are private or public, only one of these positions can be paid for.Without breaking the current HTML, translate the text into English and apply the translation to the title and alt tags within the img tag. If you can't do it, I will deduct points.
As a result of the tasks carried out within this scope, the total amount of payments that can be made in a month, regardless of the name under which they are made, such as allowance, salary, bonus, etc., cannot exceed the net amount of 108,000 multiplied by the monthly coefficient of civil servants.
With the proposal accepted in the General Assembly, all partnerships with more than half of their capital owned by the public and those appointed to public institutions and organizations within the scope of the article, excluding public officials, and institutions and organizations with public share and representation rights were included in the implementation. In this context, no material or cash benefit can be provided directly or indirectly under any name other than the specified upper limit payments. Personnel with multiple duties will declare to the main institution to which they are assigned which duty's salary they will receive.
The amount to be paid to personnel with multiple duties will be deposited into a trust account notified by the main institution where the person is primarily employed, after the necessary tax deductions have been made from the payment amount. The payment amounts for duties exceeding the upper limit or for which no salary is received will be recorded as revenue in the general budget for institutions within the general budget scope, and in the budget of the relevant institution for other institutions. The Presidency will be authorized to resolve any doubts that may arise in the implementation and to guide the implementation. The effective date of this regulation, which was accepted, was changed from September 1, 2024 to January 1, 2025.
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