Public Announcement Regarding the Requests of Turkish Citizens Living Abroad Failure to Transfer Financial Account Data Abroad
The issue has been evaluated by the Personal Data Protection Board (“Board”) due to the large number of similar petitions submitted to the Authority by citizens of the Republic of Turkey living abroad, and with the Board Decision dated 28/12/2023 and numbered 2023/2199;
- Paragraph (5) of Article 9 of the Law No. 6698 on the Protection of Personal Data (“Law”) stipulates that, without prejudice to the provisions of international agreements, personal data may be transferred abroad in cases where the interests of Turkey or the person concerned would be seriously harmed, only with the permission of the Board by obtaining the opinion of the relevant public institution or organization,
- On the other hand, paragraph (6) of Article 9 of the Law stipulates that “The provisions of other laws regarding the transfer of personal data abroad are reserved.”
- In the case of international agreements, personal data may be transferred abroad within the framework of these agreements without seeking the explicit consent of the persons or without being subject to the permission of the Board,
- Furthermore, Article 90 of the Constitution stipulates that “international agreements duly put into force have the force of law”,
- Pursuant to the aforementioned articles, data transfers to be made abroad within the scope of the Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement on Automatic Exchange of Financial Account Information will not constitute a violation of the law within the scope of Article 9 of the Law,
- On the other hand, in the event that personal data processing is necessary for the protection of the economic and financial interests of the State in relation to budget, tax and financial matters, in accordance with subparagraph (ç) of paragraph (2) of Article 28 of Law No. 6698, it is stipulated that Article 10 regulating the data controller’s obligation to inform and Article 11 regulating the rights of the data subject, except for the right to claim compensation for the damage, shall not apply,
Regarding the complaints submitted to the Authority by Turkish citizens residing abroad, it has been decided that there is no action to be taken within the scope of Law No. 6698 since it is evaluated that the issues regarding automatic data sharing are regulated in the “Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement on Automatic Exchange of Financial Account Information” and the personal data transfer activities to be carried out within the scope of the provisions of the international agreement are in accordance with the law in accordance with paragraphs (5) and (6) of Article 9 of the Law.
Within the framework of the aforementioned Board Decision, it has been announced to the public that the complaints of the aforementioned nature, which have been submitted to the Board so far and will be submitted to the Board in the future, will not be evaluated for the reasons stated in the Board Decision.