– The deadlines for real and legal persons who will process personal data to register with the Data Controllers Registry before starting data processing have been changed by the Personal Data Protection Authority.

In the decision taken by the Presidency, it was reminded that in accordance with Article 16 of the Law on the Protection of Personal Data No. 6698, natural and legal persons who process personal data must register with the Data Controllers Registry before starting data processing.

Underlining that the obligation to register in the registry is an obligation imposed by law for real or legal persons processing personal data, it was stated in the decision that sanctions are foreseen in case of non-compliance with this obligation.

In the decision, it was stated that an amendment was made in accordance with the Provisional Article 1 of the Law No. 6698, taking into account the data controllers who could not fulfill their registration and notification obligation on time.

In this context, the deadline for data controllers with more than 50 employees or an annual financial balance sheet total of more than 25 million TL and data controllers residing abroad, which was determined as 31 December 2019, has been changed to 30 June 2020.

For data controllers whose annual number of employees is less than 50 and whose annual financial balance sheet is less than 25 million TL and whose main field of activity is processing special personal data, the deadline for registration, which was determined as 31 March 2020, was 30 September 2020.

The period given to data controllers of public institutions and organizations to fulfill their obligation to register and notify has also been extended from 30 June 2020 to 31 December 2020.