27September2020

Penalties Imposed by the Turkish Personal Data Protection Authority (KVKK) in 2020

Negligence and violations regarding the protection of personal data impose heavy legal and criminal liabilities on business organizations.

The liabilities and amount of penalty fines due to the violation of the sanction according to the Article 18 of KVKK are as follows:

In case disclosure obligation is contradicted;	In case of breach on Data Security obligations;
2016 (Amount stipulated in the Law):	2016 (Amount stipulated in the Law):
5.000 ₺ - 100.000 ₺	15.000 ₺ - 1.000.000 ₺
2020 (Current Amount):	2020 (Current Amount):
9.013 ₺ - 180.264 ₺	27.040 ₺ - 1.802.641 ₺
In case of contradiction with the decisions of the Board;	In case of breach of the obligation of VERBIS registration and notification;
2016 (Amount stipulated in the Law):	2016 (Amount stipulated in the Law):
25.000 ₺ - 1.000.000 ₺	20.000 ₺ - 1.000.000 ₺
2020 (Current Amount):	2020 (Current Amount):
45.066 ₺ - 1.802.641 ₺	36.053 ₺ - 1.802.641 ₺

In addition, it is stated in the Article 17 of KVKK that the provisions of Article 135 to 140 of the Turkish Penal Code dated 26/9/2004 and numbered 5237 will be applied for crimes related to personal data. The prison sentences stipulated in the Turkish Penal Code for the Protection of Personal Data are as follows;

In case of illegal processing of personal data

1 up to 3 years sentence to prison, the penalty for sensitive data is increased

In case of providing or obtaining data illegally

2 up to 4 years sentence to prison

In case of non-purging of personal data within the period specified by law

1 up to 2 years sentence to prison

In accordance with the Article 18 of the Law, some sanctions are stipulated in the case of failure to fulfill the above mentioned obligations.

In 2020, Turkish DPA (KVKK) imposed fines in a total amount of 6.870.500,00 ₺ for 19 cases with respect to Article 18 of the Law.

Below penalty fines are published in 2020;

DATA CONTROLLER	RELATED DECISION	AMOUNT OF FINE
A Legal Counsel	Please click here to access the related board decision summary in Turkish.	50.000 TL
An Educational Institution	Please click here to access the related board decision summary in Turkish.	50.000 TL
A Bank	Please click here to access the related board decision summary in Turkish.	50.000 TL
An Insurance Agency	Please click here to access the related board decision summary in Turkish.	22.500 TL
A Mobile Application	Please click here to access the related board decision summary in Turkish.	10.000 TL
A Real Estate Company	Please click here to access the related board decision summary in Turkish.	50.000 TL
A Call Center	Please click here to access the related board decision summary in Turkish.	18.000 TL
A Flight Ticket Sales Company	Please click here to access the related board decision summary in Turkish.	50.000 TL
A Bank	Please click here to access the related board decision summary in Turkish.	210.000 TL
An Internet Web Site of A Data Controller	Please click here to access the related board decision summary in Turkish.	50.000 TL
A Fitness Center	Please click here to access the related board decision summary in Turkish.	225.000 TL
A Data Controller Operating in Online Selling	Please click here to access the related board decision summary in Turkish.	1.200.000 TL
An Internet Service Provider	Please click here to access the related board decision summary in Turkish.	300.000 TL
Various Factoring Companies	Please click here to access the related board decision summary in Turkish.	1.400.000 TL
A Game Company	Please click here to access the related board decision summary in Turkish.	1.100.000 TL
A Bank	Please click here to access the related board decision summary in Turkish.	1.000.000 TL
A Pharmacy	Please click here to access the related board decision summary in Turkish.	60.000 TL
A Legal Counsel	Please click here to access the related board decision summary in Turkish.	125.000 TL
A Data Controller Operating in the Automotive Sector	Please click here to access the related board decision summary in Turkish.	900.000 TL

19 Penalty Fines

6.870.500,00 ₺

You can contact us to have further information about your obligations specified in the Law and to prevent any criminal sanctions that may arise as a result of any legal non-compliance.

Author CottGroup Hukuk ve Mevzuat Ekibi, Category Personal Data Protection Law

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