Decision on Registration Liability of Branches and Liaison Bureaus in Turkey, in Which Their Headquarters Located in Abroad, to The Data Controllers’ Registry
On the date of 23/07/2019, with the Board Decision numbered 2019/225, Turkish Data Protection Board has decided on registration liability of branches and liaison bureaus in Turkey, in which their headquarters located in abroad, to the Data Controllers’ Registry (“VERBİS”).
It has been stated in the Board Decision that branches of legal entities located in abroad can be deemed as a data controller in the event they are acting (i) independent from their headquarters during personal data process and (ii) in line with the criteria of being data controller. The following matters has been stated in the Decision as criteria of data controller for branches. Accordingly,
– determine purposes and medium of the data process,
– being responsible for building and managing a data record system,
– meeting the conditions to register (number of employees is more than 50 per year or total annual financial balance sheet is more than TRY 25 million)
The Board has decided that liaison bureaus are not liable to register to VERBİS since they do not trade and they are only commenced to assist their headquarters located in abroad on communication, advertising, promotion etc.