Data Protection (KVKK) Consultancy

KVKK consultancy is one of the most critical legal services in a digital world, bringing companies' data processing activities within legal limits and protecting businesses from heavy administrative fines.

Today, the unauthorised use of a name, email address or national ID number can cause material and moral harm that is hard to remedy.

The Personal Data Protection Law (KVKK) No. 6698 sets strict rules on who may process data, for what purposes and how.

In a field where legal and financial sanctions are extremely heavy, acting on hearsay or standard templates from the internet can expose businesses to fines running into millions of lira.

It should not be forgotten that, in the event of a data breach, even seconds matter, and missing statutory notification deadlines (such as the obligation to notify the Board within 72 hours) has irreversible consequences.

For this reason, having compliance processes checked by a legal specialist from start to finish is not an option for companies but an absolute legal requirement.

The entire legal framework — from mapping your company's data to preparing privacy notices in line with current law — must work flawlessly.

To protect your business from heavy sanctions, safeguard your brand reputation and manage legal processes with confidence, Bursa Mudanya Law Office offers end-to-end professional legal support with its specialist team.

What Are Personal Data and the KVKK?

Personal data means any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person.

As well as information that identifies you directly, such as your name, surname and national ID number, your email address, phone number, IP address, CV and even your image in camera footage are personal data.

The KVKK (Personal Data Protection Law) is the law designed to prevent such information from being unlawfully collected, used or shared by companies, institutions or individuals.

The law does not aim to ban data processing altogether, but to place it on a transparent, secure legal footing that does not violate individuals' fundamental rights.

The KVKK Compliance Process and Obligations for Companies

For businesses, KVKK compliance is not just a matter of adding a few texts copied from the internet to the website.

The process requires examining the data processing practices of all the company's departments — human resources, marketing, accounting, IT and so on — and restructuring them in line with the law.

Duty to Inform and Obtaining Explicit Consent

Under the law, companies must transparently inform the people whose data they process (employees, customers, visitors, etc.) at the moment the data is obtained.

This is called the duty to inform. The privacy notice must clearly state the purpose for which the data is processed, to whom it is transferred and on what legal basis.

If none of the exceptions set out in the law apply, the person's explicit consent, given freely, must be obtained before the data can be processed. When obtaining consent, the person must not be misled and consent must not be made a condition of service.

VERBİS (Data Controllers' Registry) Registration

VERBİS is an official registry managed by the Personal Data Protection Authority, in which companies declare to the state, in general terms, the data they process.

Businesses with more than 50 employees annually or an annual balance sheet above the current limits set by the Authority, and all companies whose main activity is processing special category personal data, must register with VERBİS.

Failure to register or false declarations in the system result in heavy administrative fines.

Corporate Data Inventory and Policies

Under Article 11 of the Personal Data Protection Law, the data subject always has the right to:

• learn whether their personal data is being processed,
• request information about the data if it has been processed,
• ask whether the personal data is being used for its intended purpose,
• learn about the third parties in Türkiye or abroad to whom the data has been transferred,
• have incomplete or inaccurate data corrected,
• request the erasure or destruction of personal data for its protection,

• request that third parties to whom the data was transferred be notified of any correction, erasure or destruction,
• object to results that are unfavourable to them arising from analysis by automated systems,
• claim compensation for damage caused by unlawful processing of data.

The backbone of the compliance process is the Personal Data Processing Inventory: a detailed data map showing which department of the company holds which personal data, for what purpose and for how long.

Once this map is complete, the mandatory Personal Data Retention and Destruction Policy, Special Category Data Security Policy and internal confidentiality guidelines are prepared and integrated into the corporate culture.

Rights of the Data Subject

The KVKK not only imposes obligations on companies; it also gives every individual whose data is processed (the data subject) absolute control over their own data.

Under Article 11 of the law, everyone has the right to learn whether their personal data is being processed, ask the purpose of processing, know the third parties in Türkiye or abroad to whom it has been transferred, and request correction if it has been processed incompletely or inaccurately.

Erasure, Destruction and Anonymisation of Personal Data

In our legal system, data cannot be kept forever. When the legal reason requiring processing ceases to exist, or the person withdraws their explicit consent, the data must be erased, completely destroyed or anonymised, either ex officio or on request.

Anonymisation means rendering data such that it can no longer be associated with an identified person in any way, even when combined with other data.

Complaints and Remedies in the Event of a Breach

If you believe your data has been processed unlawfully or leaked, you cannot go directly to court or to the Board; the law sets out a strict procedure. You must first apply in writing to the company processing your data.

If the company does not give a satisfactory response within 30 days at the latest, or rejects your application, you then have the right to complain to the Board. Complaints filed with the Board without first applying to the company are dismissed on procedural grounds.

Sanctions and Penalties for KVKK Breaches

The sanctions for failing to comply with KVKK rules are not warnings that remain on paper. In the event of a breach, our legal system exposes businesses and executives to risk on two fronts: administrative fines and direct imprisonment.

Administrative Fines and Disciplinary Sanctions

The Personal Data Protection Board is empowered to impose heavy administrative fines on companies for breaches.

These fines, updated each year in line with revaluation rates and with upper limits reaching millions of lira as of 2026, apply to failures such as not fulfilling the duty to inform, failing to ensure data security, failing to comply with Board decisions and breaching the VERBİS registration obligation.

These fines are imposed directly on the company as a legal entity and are collected as public receivables even if the company goes bankrupt.

IT Offences Under the Turkish Criminal Code (TCK)

The most critical and dangerous dimension of KVKK sanctions is the Turkish Criminal Code. While administrative fines are imposed on the company, prison sentences are imposed on the individuals (company executives or employees) who unlawfully process or disseminate data.

Under Articles 135–140 of the TCK, unlawfully recording, giving to others, disseminating or obtaining personal data, or failing to destroy data once its retention period has expired, leads directly to prosecution for IT offences.

KVKK Consultancy and Legal Services

Businesses frequently see KVKK compliance as merely a technical security matter that the IT department can solve — but this is a serious misconception.

Software and cyber-security firewalls prevent data from being stolen from outside, but they cannot prevent data from being unlawfully collected or processed within the company, or consent being obtained with the wrong wording. At its core, KVKK is not a technical but an entirely legal discipline.

A lawyer specialising in personal data protection analyses the company's operations and maps its legal risks.

Adding confidentiality clauses to supplier agreements, revising employment contracts in line with the law and writing privacy notices and consent forms from scratch for the company's specific activities fall directly within the lawyer's expertise.

In addition, managing the 72-hour statutory notification process in the event of a cyber attack (data leak) and presenting defences before the Board can only be handled without damage through professional legal advice.

Conclusion

KVKK consultancy is the most important legal shield, safeguarding individuals against the greatest risks of the digital age while protecting companies' corporate reputation and financial structure.

In a system where the rules are very clear, the deadlines short and the penalties heavy enough to drive companies into bankruptcy, acting on the basis that "our company won't leak data" or "ready-made texts will do" is an unacceptable risk.

Achieving full legal compliance, avoiding administrative and criminal sanctions and turning data protection into a secure corporate culture is only possible under the guidance of a specialist lawyer.

To reduce risks to zero from the very start and secure your compliance processes legally, Bursa Mudanya Law Office is your firm's most reliable partner, with command of current legislation and an experienced team.

Frequently Asked Questions