What are the Recent Amendments to the Regulation Regarding the Principles and Procedures of Collection of Aid?

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The Ministry of Interior (“ Ministry “) introduced significant amendments to the Regulation regarding the Principles and Procedures of Collection of Aid. Among the main changes are defining the expressions regarding aid and aid collection activities in detail, including aid collection activities on the internet within the scope of the Regulation, amendments in aid collection permit applications, and operation of aid collection activities.

Recent development

The Regulation on the Amendment of the Regulation regarding the Principles and Procedures of Collection of Aid (“ Regulation “) prepared by the Ministry entered into force on 10 November 2021 after being published in the Official Gazette. The Regulation introduces updates on the permission process and procedures of aid collection activities. In addition, the Regulation includes the aid collection activities carried out through internet within its scope. The Regulation is available here (in Turkish).

What’s new?

The Regulation introduces the following notable changes:

• Online aid collection activities are explicitly included within the scope of the Regulation, in accordance with the interpretations in practice prior to amendments.
• Rather than filing a petition, real persons and organizations willing to collect aid are required to submit their requests to the authorized authority using the Aid Collection Application Form in the attachment of the Regulation.
• Associations, institutions and foundations, which are authorized by the president of the republic to collect aid, are required to report their aid collection activities using the Aid Collection Conclusion Notification form in the attachment of the Regulation.
• The aid collection permit number obtained through the Associations Information System (“ DERBIS “) must be specified in all materials used for aid collection activity, including online aid collection activities.
• Real persons and organizations authorized to collect aid via bank accounts or electronically processed systems are required to report information such as account and SMS numbers to the authority within 30 days from the date of authorization.
• Those who are authorized for and in charge of aid collection are required to entrust the collected aid to the responsible accountant or deposit it into the relevant bank account every 15 days, regardless of the amount collected. However, associations and foundations that keep books on a balance sheet basis are required to entrust the collected aid to the responsible accountant or deposit it into the relevant bank account without waiting for this period, provided that the amount of the aid collected exceeds TRY 25,000.
• Within 90 days as of the submission of the final account required to be prepared within 10 days upon the expiry of the aid collection term, aid collectors must report their spending to the authority using the Aid Collection Result Notification form in the attachment of the Regulation. This period can be extended with the approval of the authority, unless the submitted aid amount is fully exhausted during the period of 90 days.

Conclusion

The Regulation brings important changes with respect to the application for the aid collection permit and the operation of aid collection activities. Online aid collection activities will be under the scope of the Regulation. It is essential to consider the aforementioned issues prior to engaging with aid collection activities.