Offence of Disclosure of Trade Secrets, Banking Secrets, and Customer Secrets

The Turkish Penal Code defines the disclosure of trade secrets, banking secrets, and customer secrets as an offence. The unlawful acquisition of information and documents constituting trade secrets, banking secrets, and customer secrets, and their disclosure to unauthorized persons, also falls within the scope of this offence.

For natural and legal persons to conduct their economic activities securely, the protection of their confidential information by the firms they engage with is of paramount importance. Should the trade secrets, banking secrets, and customer secrets of natural and legal persons, which ought to be kept confidential by individuals and institutions with whom they have contractual relationships, be disclosed without authorization, this is capable of causing significant material and non-material damages.

Article 239 of the Turkish Penal Code defines the act of “disclosure of information or documents constituting a trade secret, banking secret, or customer secret” as an offence.

According to the statutory provision, it is stipulated that any person who, by virtue of their position, duty, profession, or art, discloses or divulges information or documents constituting a trade secret, banking secret, or customer secret to unauthorized persons, shall, upon complaint, be sentenced to imprisonment for a term of one to three years and a judicial fine of up to five thousand days. Furthermore, it is observed that if information or documents constituting a trade secret, banking secret, or customer secret are unlawfully acquired and subsequently disclosed or divulged to unauthorized persons by those who obtained them unlawfully, such persons shall also be sentenced to imprisonment for a term of one to three years and a judicial fine of up to five thousand days.

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