New Developments
The Regulation on Processing the Services of Mining and Petroleum Affairs General Directorate on an Electronic Platform (“Regulation“) was published in the Official Gazette No. 31573, dated August 19, 2021, and came into force on the same date. In accordance with the Regulation, Mining and Petroleum Affairs General Directorate (“General Directorate“) will provide its services on an electronic system.
Procedures Brought Under the Regulation
Compulsory electronic system usage: All operations relating to declarations, requests, submission of technical documents, natural resource applications, tenders of the natural resource sites, book of the permanent supervisor, shipping slips, and payments under relevant legislation must be made using the electronic automation software. There is no requirement to physically submit the documents after submitting them on the electronic system.
Applications delivered by petitions, e-petitions, official writings, registered emails, and emails, despite there being electronic software menus prepared for these operations, will not be processed.
Access: Access to the electronic automation software is provided by the e-Devlet Gateway, www.turkiye.gov.tr (Republic of Turkey’s electronic platform for providing public services).
Planned cuts to be made to the access will be announced by the General Directorate. In case of failure to provide service for more than six hours on the same day at the electronic automation software, excluding planned cuts, a time extension will be given until the end of the business day following the day when the cut ends for completion of the unfulfilled works and operations.
Time stamp: Time stamp will be used to make a determination when there is a conflict regarding submission times. In accordance with the Electronic Signature Law No. 5070, “time stamp” refers to the record verified with an electronic signature by the electronic certificate service provider, which determines the time when an electronic data was produced, changed, sent, received and/or saved.
Requests: Requests will be made between 00.00 and 23.59 for each calendar day.
Online payments: Payments should be made at the beginning and end of the day intervals, as announced by the General Directorate. Otherwise, payments made will be deemed to take place between the first beginning and the end of day interval following the relevant payment. For payments, it is mandatory to use the institutional collection system. Otherwise, the payment transactions will be assumed to not be made. Set-off and debt transfer among the accruals are not possible.
E-shipping slips: Updating or cancelling e-shipping slips will be possible for 48 hours after the end of the slip’s issue date if an error is detected or the shipping is not realized.
Authorization: Authorization is required for works and operations to be made on the electronic automation software. Authorization will be carried out by notifying the General Directorate on the electronic automation software by a secure electronic signature or documents approved by a notary public. The authorized person may transfer their authority on electronic automation software to other persons, in whole or in part, with a secure electronic signature or electronic approval. However, the delegated person cannot transfer this authority to a third party.
Responsibility: All parties, including the authorized person, the person giving the authorization, and the person to whom the authority is transferred will be responsible for the transactions carried out by the authorized person within the scope of the relevant legislation.
Transition Provisions:
- It is obligatory to return the unused physical shipping slips, which is available to the mining license holders, to the General Directorate through methods determined by the General Directorate.
- Follow-up operations regarding the documents submitted to the General Directorate before the implementation of the electronic automation software will be completed through the electronic automation software.
Conclusion
The General Directorate has been gradually using electronic systems for its services since 2019. The Regulation now constitutes the legal basis for the obligatory use of the electronic automation system in services and the required procedures.
