Regulation on Geographic Data Permits Published
The Regulation on Geographic Data Permits (Regulation) was published in the Official Gazette dated 14 October 2026 and numbered 33400 and entered into force on the same date. The Regulation sets out the procedures and principles governing the permits required for commercial activities involving the collection, production, sharing or sale of geographic data covered by the National Geographic Data Responsibility Matrix by natural persons, private law legal entities and foreign natural and legal persons, as well as the sharing of geographic data with the Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change (Ministry) for use in disaster and emergency management.
The Regulation repealed the Regulation on Geographic Data Permits and the Regulation on Geographic Data Licences, both published in the Official Gazette dated 10 February 2021 and numbered 31391.
The key matters addressed under the Regulation are summarized below:
- Natural persons, private law legal entities and foreign natural and legal persons are required to obtain a permit from the Ministry for their commercial activities involving the collection, production, sharing or sale of geographic data covered by the Regulation. For branches and agencies, a single permit obtained by the relevant head office is sufficient.
- Turkish citizen natural persons and private law legal entities commencing commercial activities for the first time are exempt from the permit fee for the year in which they commence their activities. However, the obligation to obtain a permit remains applicable.
- Legal entities holding distribution licences under the Electricity Market Law and the Natural Gas Market Law are exempt from the permit requirement and the obligation to pay a permit fee for geographic data processing activities carried out within the scope of their licensed activities, provided that they register with the Ministry’s electronic infrastructure. However, if such data is used for commercial activities outside the scope of their distribution licences, they are required to obtain a permit and pay the permit fee.
- Address information requested for invoicing purposes and the publication of address and location data relating to the head offices, branches and agencies of businesses on their websites or social media accounts are exempt from the permit requirement.
- Permit holders are required to submit activity reports concerning the activities carried out under their permits and information relating to geographic data (metadata) to the Ministry’s electronic infrastructure every twelve months.
- In addition, upon the Ministry’s request, permit holders must share the geographic data they have worked on, together with the relevant metadata, with the Ministry for use in disaster and emergency management, in accordance with the prescribed technical standards and free of charge. The sharing of geographic data through the Ministry’s electronic infrastructure must continue even after the expiry of the permit period.
- Licences and permits previously issued by the Ministry under the repealed Regulation on Geographic Data Licences and the Regulation on Geographic Data Permits remain valid until the expiry of their respective validity periods.
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