With the recent amendments regarding fines in Turkey (Law No. 5278 on the Amendment of Various Laws and Certain Other Laws for the Purpose of Harmonisation with the Basic Criminal Laws), the procedure of notification of the penalty will generally be made within the framework of the provisions of the Notification Law No. 7201, as stated in Article 26 of the Law on Misdemeanours. In the text of the notification, the way of appeal, the authority and the duration must be clearly stated.
When an administrative fine is imposed in accordance with the Labour Law, Maritime Labour Law, Press Labour Law, Turkish Employment Agency Law, Unemployment Insurance Law, Law on Lunch Rest, Law on Private Security Services, Law on Vocational Training, Law on the Duties and Powers of the Police, an application can be made to the criminal judge of peace within 15 days at the latest from the date of notification of the decision. If this period is missed due to force majeure, the decision can be appealed within 7 days after the reason disappears. In the first case, exceeding the 15-day period finalises the decision, and in the second case, although the decision is finalised, the court may suspend its implementation. If the administrative fine is imposed not by the relevant institution, but by the court, these regulations will not be applicable.
There are two ways to appeal against the administrative fines imposed in Turkey. In the first case, the addressee pays the fine amount in order to benefit from the foreseen discount and then objects to the fine. In this case, although the payment period is 30 days, since the objection period is limited to 15 days, the actual payment period is reduced to 15 days. At the end of the objection, if the decision is to remove the fine, the addressee can get back this amount paid in advance.
In order to apply to the judicial remedy in the sense of employers against the decision of the criminal judge of peace, firstly, the decision must be made in the form of rejection of the application and the amount must exceed 3.000 TL. Therefore, the decision of the criminal judge of peace is final for fines imposed in amounts less than 3.000 TL in Turkey. The objection to the decision of the criminal judge of peace can be made to the heavy criminal court according to the jurisdiction within 7 days at most according to the provisions of the Criminal Procedure Law.
