A company’s appearance on the trade registry does not mean that the entry takes effect against everyone at that moment. The Turkish Commercial Code No. 6102 ties the effect on third parties, as a rule, to announcement in the Turkish Trade Registry Gazette. This note explains that effect of registration and announcement. The detail of trade names, authority to represent each type of company, and enforcement of a commercial receivable are outside this note.
Summary: Under Article 36, trade-registry entries, wherever they are kept, produce legal effects against third parties from the business day following the day the registration is announced in the Turkish Trade Registry Gazette. If the whole announcement is not published in the same issue, the day the last part is published is used. If the registered position and the announced position differ, third parties’ reliance on the announcement is protected unless it is proved that they knew the true registered position (Article 37).
How is registration requested?
Under Article 27, registration in the trade registry is made on request as a rule. Registrations made of the office’s own motion or on notice from a competent institution remain reserved. For matters subject to a fee, the date of the fee receipt determines the moment of registration. That date is not the day the entry takes effect against third parties. The effect on third parties is set out separately in Article 36.
Under Article 28, the request is made to the competent registry directorate by the persons concerned, their representatives, or their successors. If several persons are obliged and entitled to request registration of a matter, the registration made on one person’s request is deemed requested by all of them, unless the statute says otherwise.
The registry director examines whether the statutory conditions for registration exist (Article 32). The matters to be registered must fully reflect the truth, must not create a misleading impression for third parties, and must not be contrary to public order.
When does the effect on third parties begin?
The first paragraph of Article 36 draws these distinctions:
- The effect does not change according to where the registry directorate is. The same rule applies wherever the entries are kept.
- The starting point is the business day following the day the registration is announced in the Turkish Trade Registry Gazette.
- If the whole announcement is not published in the same issue, the business day following publication of the last part is used.
- Periods that run from the announcement date also start on that day.
This note does not calculate the last calendar day of a particular announcement. A registry line on a screen and the announcement in the Gazette are not the same record. Article 36 ties the effect on third parties to the announcement.
The statute may separately provide that some matters take effect against third parties immediately upon registration, or that periods start to run immediately (Article 36/2). This note does not list those special provisions.
Third parties cannot claim that they did not know registry entries that have begun to take effect against them (Article 36/3).
Which prevails if the entry and the announcement differ?
Under Article 37, if the registered entry and the announced position conflict, third parties’ reliance on the announced position is protected. The exception is proof that they knew the true registered position. This does not mean that the announcement replaces the entry in every case. What is protected is the third party’s reliance on the announcement. If it is proved that the third party knew the true position, that protection falls away.
Can an unregistered matter be asserted against a third party?
Under Article 36/4, a matter that had to be registered but was not, or that was registered but not announced although announcement was mandatory, may be asserted against third parties only if it is proved that they knew it or ought to have known it.
If the registry director learns of a matter that had to be registered but was not requested in the statutory form and time, the director calls on the persons concerned, within a suitable period, to perform the duty or to prove that there is no ground for registration (Article 33). The statute provides an administrative fine if the call is not complied with. The amount of the fine is not stated in this note. A false statement has a separate consequence (Article 38). This note does not set out those amounts or criminal proceedings.
Under Article 35, anyone may inspect the contents of the trade registry and the instruments and documents kept at the directorate. A certified copy is obtained by paying the cost. A certified statement of whether a matter is entered in the registry may also be requested. Registered matters are announced in the Turkish Trade Registry Gazette unless the statute or the regulation provides otherwise.
How is the registry director’s decision challenged?
Article 34 is a separate route from the effect of a registry entry on third parties. The persons concerned may object to the registry directorate’s decision on a request for registration, amendment, or deletion, by petition, within eight days from notification of the decision, to the commercial court of first instance at the place of the registry. The court examines the objection on the file. If the decision is contrary to a third party’s interest in a matter entered in the registry, the objector and the third party are also heard. If they do not appear, the court decides on the file.
These eight days do not replace the time at which an announcement takes effect against third parties.
What does this note not explain?
Under Article 39, every merchant must carry out transactions relating to the commercial enterprise under the trade name and must sign instruments and other documents relating to the enterprise under that name. Commercial letters show the registry number, the trade name, and the centre of the enterprise. The announcements that the same article lists separately for a website and for each type of company are not opened in this note.
The remedies for a consumer transaction are in What remedies can a consumer choose for defective goods?. The payment order in ordinary enforcement without a judgment for a money claim is in Payment order and the objection period in enforcement without a judgment. A registry entry is not a payment order. The general frame of the same field is on the Commercial law page.
The text of the Code can be read in the Turkish Commercial Code No. 6102 on mevzuat.gov.tr.
This note is general information and is not a legal opinion on a particular person’s circumstances.
Sources
- Sources 1 (opens in a new tab) — Accessed: October 20, 2026