Maintaining a minimum staff of intellectual workers is mandatory for the right to publish official announcements. In small publications the first solution that comes to mind is to show the owner or the partners on that staff. The Press Advertising Agency answered this question with an express principle decision in 2005.
Principle Decision No. 171
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Decision number | 171 |
| Decision date | 25.05.2005 |
| Official Gazette | 07.06.2005 — No. 25838 |
| Basis | Law No. 195, Arts. 30 and 38 |
| Applicant | Çağdaş Marmaris newspaper — 24 January 2005 |
The decision covers newspapers that hold or wish to obtain the right to publish official announcements. Both existing holders and applicants are bound by the same rule.
Who Cannot Be on the Staff?
Where the concession holder and/or publisher is a legal person, the decision lists:
- Partners of general partnerships
- Active and limited partners of ordinary limited partnerships
- Partners of limited liability companies
- Active partners of partnerships limited by shares
- Partners of shipping partnerships
- Founding partners of joint stock companies, and partners who are board members
The Reasoning: Insurance Status
The decision rests this conclusion on a social insurance ground: the persons listed are treated as insured under Article 24 of Law No. 1479, and therefore cannot be shown on the staff.
The logic: the minimum staff consists of salaried intellectual workers. A person with the insurance status of someone working on their own account as a company partner does not fall within that definition.
A Fine Distinction in Joint Stock Companies
No Gap in Limited Liability Companies
For limited liability companies no distinction is drawn: the decision says partners. Whether or not they are a manager, a person holding partnership status cannot be shown on the minimum staff. Since the limited liability company is the most common form in local publishing, this is the situation most often encountered in practice.
The Practical Upshot
| Person | May be shown on the staff? |
|---|---|
| Partner of a limited liability company | No |
| Founding partner of a joint stock company | No |
| Partner who is a board member of a joint stock company | No |
| Partner of a general partnership | No |
| Salaried intellectual worker with no partnership interest | Yes, if the other conditions are met |
Bottom Line
Under Principle Decision No. 171 of 25.05.2005 of the General Assembly of the Press Advertising Agency, the partners of the concession-holding or publishing legal person — and in joint stock companies the founding partners and partners who are board members — cannot be included on the minimum intellectual worker staff of newspapers publishing official announcements. The reasoning is that these persons are treated as insured on their own account.