The right to publish official announcements is the most stable item of revenue for many local publications, and for that reason the subject that generates the most questions. The answers to “can my newspaper receive announcements”, “how many months do I wait” and “when does the period start” are written in the Regulation on Official Announcements and Advertisements. This guide answers the first six questions with the article numbers.
1. Can my newspaper receive official announcements?
Article 9 sets the framework: newspapers and online news sites that fulfil their qualifications and duties fully and in good time, in accordance with the procedures and principles determined by category, acquire the right to publish official announcements. The right is not an automatic status but a consequence tied to the conditions being met continuously.
Article 11 ties this to three conditions:
- Request. Making a signed request to publish official announcements and advertising, or advertising only, expressly stating the place of publication or quota location.
- Conditions and qualifications. Possessing, according to the request, the conditions and qualifications in the relevant provisions of the Regulation, and accepting and fulfilling in good time the duties imposed.
- Waiting period. Completing the waiting period determined for you while fulfilling those conditions.
The third condition does not operate independently of the first two: you must continue to possess the conditions throughout the waiting period as well.
2. How many months is the waiting period?
The period varies by type of publication, and for online news sites there are three possibilities.
| Type of publication | Waiting period | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Newspaper | 36 months | Art. 33(1) |
| Online news site (ordinary) | 24 months | Art. 54(1) |
| Online news site (twice the conditions) | 6 months | Art. 54(2) |
| Online news site (no right-holder in that quota location) | 6 months | Art. 54(4) |
The accelerated route in the third row is the most asked about and the least known. Under Article 54(2), a waiting period of six months is applied to online news sites that, from the date of application, meet twice the minimum staffing and minimum daily content figures and the minimum daily unique visitor, direct unique visitor and page view figures determined for the category to which they belong.
The fourth paragraph regulates a different situation: where, as at the date of application, there is no online news site in that quota location holding the right to publish official announcements or for which a waiting period start date has been determined, the waiting period is applied directly as six months. That provision can be decisive in small districts and in quota locations with no competition.
3. When does the waiting period start?
The commonest mistake is to think the period starts on the day you begin publishing or the day you apply to the Agency. It is neither.
Under Article 15, newspapers and online news sites must request an inspection within three months at the latest of the date on which their request to publish official announcements reached the Agency’s records. The start date of the waiting period is determined as the date on which it is established, as a result of the inspection or examination carried out by the Directorate General on the application, that they possess the conditions and qualifications specified in the provisions of the Regulation relating to the place of publication or the quota location.
The practical consequence: the clock starts on the day you are seen at inspection to meet the conditions. If a deficiency is found, the counter does not run until you have remedied it and it is established again. Preparation before applying is therefore a matter that costs months.
4. Can official announcements be received during the waiting period?
No. Article 16(1) is clear: a newspaper or online news site made subject to a waiting period may not publish official announcements before that period expires. Otherwise the sanctions laid down in Law No. 195 apply.
The second paragraph of the same article says the waiting period is not passive waiting. During it, newspapers must publish in conformity with the publication interval stated in the declaration given under Law No. 5187, online news sites must publish so as to fulfil the accessibility requirements determined in the Regulation, and both must possess all the other qualifications sought and fulfil the duties imposed.
5. Is the waiting period extended?
Yes, it is. The heading of Article 109 is “Extension, completion and termination of the waiting period”, and its first paragraph provides: where any of the conditions determined by the General Assembly is breached during the waiting period, the period is extended by the number of days on which the breaches occurred. The extension is not a fixed penalty but equals the number of days the breach lasted.
- Extension by the days of breach. If a condition is breached during the waiting period, the period is extended by the number of days of breach (Art. 109(1)).
- Delay in requesting an inspection. If a request is made after the three-month period in Article 15 has been exceeded, the time elapsed is added to the waiting period and a new start date is determined (Art. 109(4)).
- Termination of the period. If the situations in Article 113 are established, the period is not extended; the publication is treated as never having applied and the waiting period is terminated (Art. 109(5)).
The third is the heaviest: there the period is not extended but reset. Under Article 16(3), in respect of publications within the waiting period the first paragraph of Article 113 is applied by reference to the start date of the waiting period instead of the calendar year — so a continuity breach of more than three days in newspapers or seven days in online news sites is calculated within that narrow window. See the extension guide.
6. Can my online news site receive official announcements?
Yes. Online news sites are regulated in a separate part of the Regulation and have their own categories, their own waiting period and their own conditions. Under Article 53 the categories of online news sites are determined by their quota locations, and those categories are constituted on the basis of provincial boundaries; districts are included in the quota location of the province to which they belong.
The General Category
There is a separate heading above the category table: the General Category is the group whose quota location is Turkey as a whole. Under Article 53(3), the General Category is the quota location in which online news sites possessing defined qualifications additionally take their place in order to publish the official announcements listed in Article 77(1), irrespective of which of the 1st to 5th Categories they fall into. Sites in the General Category also benefit from the official announcements in the quota locations constituted on the basis of provincial boundaries.
To enter the General Category the fourth paragraph requires two things: having fulfilled the conditions specified in the Regulation for one month backwards from the date of application, and notifying the request to the Agency in signed form. The date on which you begin to take your place in the General Category is the date the request reached the Agency’s records.
Summary
The official announcement right is acquired in three steps: a signed request, meeting the conditions and qualifications, and completing the waiting period. The period is 36 months for newspapers and 24 months for online news sites; it falls to 6 months for sites meeting twice their category conditions, but the same burden must then be carried for at least a further 18 months. The period starts not on the day of application but on the day it is established at inspection that the conditions are met.
The most critical preparation is therefore before the application. Applying without completing the staffing, content, traffic and technical items means the counter does not start for months. What software can and cannot satisfy is covered in the BIK compliant software guide.