Whether the general assembly convening announcements of cooperatives are to be regarded as official announcements is one of the classic questions of official announcement practice. The General Assembly of the Press Advertisement Agency took a General Assembly Principle Decision on the General Assembly Convening Announcements of Tradesmen and Craftsmen Credit and Guarantee Cooperatives on this subject.
Applicable Criterion 1: Law 195, Art. 29
Announcements that do not bear the character of advertising and that are:
- a) those whose publication is mandatory under a law, a Presidential Decree or a regulation (private associations excepted), or
- b) those given by general and annexed budget offices, special provincial administrations, municipalities, villages and State Economic Enterprises, and by bodies more than half of whose capital belongs to public law legal persons
are regarded as official announcements.
Applicable Criterion 2: Regulation Art. 5
The following are official announcements:
- a) announcements whose publication is compulsory under a law, a Presidential decree, a by-law or a regulation,
- b) announcements not of an advertising character belonging to the administrations within the central government, local administrations, social security institutions, universities, chambers and exchanges, unions, bar associations, public economic enterprises, bodies more than half of whose capital belongs to public legal persons, and their affiliates.
Art. 5/2: the announcements that private associations are obliged to give within the scope of sub-paragraph (a) of the first paragraph are not regarded as official announcements.
For Comparison: The Agricultural Producer Unions Decision
How the same question was resolved for a similar type of organisation is shown by Principle Decision No. 207 of 21.06.2017, whose text we were able to reach:
| Sub-paragraph of the decision | Content |
|---|---|
| a | Since the publication of the general assembly convening announcements has been made compulsory in their own statutes under Law No. 5200, those announcements are among the official announcements within the scope of Art. 29/a of Law No. 195 and Art. 5/1-a of the Regulation |
| b | It is compulsory for those announcements to be published through the Press Advertisement Agency or the relevant governorships |
| c | Since the Unions are a professional organisation established by law they may not be regarded as an association, and they fall within the definition of “other institutions established by law” in Art. 42 of Law No. 195 |
| ç | Their private announcements and official advertisements are published through the Branch Directorates in the places within the field of duty of the Agency, in the periodicals holding the right |
We covered the detail in the general assembly announcements of agricultural producer unions.
Questions for Practice
- Is the publication of the announcement compulsory under a law, Presidential decree, by-law or regulation? → If so, it is an official announcement within the scope of Art. 5/1-a
- Is the cooperative a private association? → If not, the exception in Art. 5/2 does not apply
- Does the announcement bear an advertising character? → If so, it is not an official announcement but may be an official advertisement (Regulation Art. 6)
- In which geography will the announcement be published? → The Agency where there is a branch, the governorship where there is none (Law 195, Art. 31)
What Is Done in Case of Doubt? — Law 195, Art. 30
In cases where the Directorate General or the governorships are in doubt as to whether an announcement may be regarded as an official announcement, or where there is a dispute between them and those concerned, the decision of the Board of Directors of the Agency is followed.
Where the Board of Directors considers it necessary, or where the governor, the Directorate General or a person concerned so requests, the matter is referred to the General Assembly for a principle decision to be taken. The principle decisions that the General Assembly takes on this subject in that way or of its own motion are final and are published in the Official Gazette. We covered the detail in who decides whether an announcement is official.
Conclusion
There is a General Assembly principle decision on the general assembly convening announcements of Tradesmen and Craftsmen Credit and Guarantee Cooperatives; but because the copy we hold is a scan, we do not reproduce the text of the decision here. The criteria to be applied to the subject are Art. 29 of Law No. 195 and Art. 5 of the Regulation: if the publication of the announcement has been made compulsory by a law, Presidential decree, by-law or regulation, and it does not bear an advertising character, it is an official announcement. In case of doubt, the decision of the Board of Directors is followed, or that of the General Assembly where a principle decision is required.