The Protection of Trade, Banking, and Customer Secrets in Turkish Criminal Law
Büşra Demiral BakırmanTrade secrets, banking secrets, and customer secrets are subject to the same protection that has been provided by unfair competition laws or by other specific provisions such as the provisions of labor law, criminal law, and civil law. The privacy of trade, banking, and customer secrets is protected under the framework of criminal law in the Turkish Penal Code section for crimes of economy, industry, and trade. The goal of this study is to investigate the outlook of legislation as it relates to trade, banking, and customer secrets in Turkish criminal law. In this study, the crime of information disclosure and the criminal sharing of documents deemed as trade secrets, banking secrets, or customer secrets are analyzed in accordance with the general theory of crime. First, we examine both the material and moral elements of the current type of crime and discuss what reasons could justify that crime. Second, the study focuses on the special appearance forms of this criminal offense. In this regard, concurrence of crimes is explained as the main problem with regard to the violation of trade secrets, banking secrets, and customer secrets. This paper will also discuss available punishments for the perpetrator. In the last part of this study, we explain the draft law on “Trade Secrets, Banking Secrets, and Customer Secrets,” which was created to clear up the inherent complexities of this issue, and attempt to balance it with the criminal framework that already exists for such secrets.
Türk Ceza Hukukunda Ticari Sır, Bankacılık Sırrı ve Müşteri Sırrının Korunması
Büşra Demiral BakırmanTicari sır, bankacılık sırrı ve müşteri sırları, haksız rekabete ilişkin hükümlerin yanı sıra, iş hukuku, ceza hukuku ve medeni hukukta yer alan özel hükümler tarafından sağlanan korumaya tabidir. Türk Ceza Kanunu’nda ticarî sır, bankacılık sırrı veya müşteri sırlarının gizliliği, ekonomi, sanayi ve ticarete ilişkin suçların düzenlendiği bölümde koruma altına alınmıştır. Bu çalışmanın amacı, ticari sır, bankacılık sırrı ve müşteri sırlarına ilişkin Türk ceza hukukundaki düzenlemelerle ilgili genel bir bakış açısı sunmaktır. Çalışmada, ticarî sır, bankacılık sırrı veya müşteri sırrı niteliğindeki bilgi veya belgelerin açıklanması suçu, suç genel teorisine göre analiz edilmiştir. Bu kapsamda öncelikle, suçun maddi ve manevi unsurları ele alınmış, daha sonra bu suç bakımından uygulama alanı bulabilecek hukuka uygunluk nedenlerine yer verilmiştir. İkinci olarak, suçun özel görünüş biçimleri irdelenmiştir. Bu bağlamda, ticari sır, bankacılık sırrı ve müşteri sırlarının gizliliğini korumayı amaçlayan farklı düzenlemeler arasındaki içtima sorunu ele alınmış ve son olarak bu suç için öngörülen yaptırımlara yer verilmiştir. Çalışmanın son bölümünde, “Ticari Sır, Banka Sırrı ve Müşteri Sırrı Hakkında Kanun Tasarısı” ile ilgili genel açıklamalar yapılmıştır.
Ensuring the confidentiality of trade secrets, banking secrets, and customer secrets is very important for commercial enterprises, companies, banks, and their customers. The protection of such secrets is related to the transparency of commercial enterprises, companies, banks, insurance companies, and brokerage firms operating in capital and financial markets. This protection is also related to the prevention of money laundering and subterranean economies as well as fighting against organized crime. Secret or confidential information refers to information that is protected against disclosure and remains confidential. A trade secret is confidential information that creates an economic advantage for commercial enterprises and companies, gives them an advantage over their competitors (for example, advertising strategies, consumer profiles, distribution methods, sales methods, lists of suppliers and clients, and manufacturing processes), and has independent commercial value. The concept of trade secret has come to cover both the commercial and financial sectors. The unauthorized use of trade secrets by anyone other than the owner is regarded as unfair practice and a violation of the trade secret. In addition, it is important to clarify the extent of the trade secret both for defining the limits of the stakeholders’ rights to receive information and for establishing the borders of disclosure in capital markets. Banking secrets can be defined as all information related to bank financial, economic, or credit status. Finally, customer secrets refer to all types of information and documentation related to customer relations of commercial enterprises, companies, banks, etc., with regard to their own areas of activity and all information and documentation obtained by such enterprises related to the personal, economic, financial, cash, or credit status of their customers. Depending on the national legal system, trade secrets, banking secrets, and customer secrets are subject to the protections provided for by unfair competition laws or other specific provisions like the provisions of labor law, criminal law, civil law, etc. Turkish law also provides numerous provisions regarding the protection of trade secrets. In this study, we first examine the provisions related to unfair competition in the Turkish Commercial Code, which provides legal protection for trade secrets, provisions for banking secrets and customers’ personal data in the Banking Code, and related provisions of the Labor Code. However, the focus of this study is Turkish Penal Code regulations. This study’s goal is to investigate the outlook of legislation as it relates to trade, banking, and customer secrets in Turkish criminal law. Corporation privacy and business secrets are protected under the economy, industry, and trade section of the Turkish Penal Code. In this study, the crime of information disclosure or documents deemed as trade secrets, banking secrets, or customer secrets is analyzed in accordance with the general theory of crime and the general provisions of the Turkish Penal Code. First, we examine both the material and moral elements of the current type of crime and discuss what reasons could justify that crime. In this respect, the most accepted definitions of trade secrets are introduced as the subject of the crime. Second, the study focuses on the special appearance forms of this criminal offense. In this regard, concurrence of crimes is explained as the main problem with regard to the violation of trade secrets, banking secrets, and customer secrets. This paper will also discuss available punishments for the perpetrator. In the last part of this study, we explain the draft law on “Trade Secrets, Banking Secrets and Customer Secrets,” which was created to clear up the inherent complexities of this issue and attempt to balance it with the criminal framework that already exists for such secrets.