Other eco-legal measures taken due to Covid-19 pandemic

The primary measures aimed to eliminate the unfavorable socio-economic conditionscreated by COVID-19 epidemic were announced by the “Law No. 7226 on the Amendments of Some Laws” published in the Official Gazette dated 26.03.2020.The Law No. 7226 aims at the mitigation of the adverse economic consequences created by the epidemic in the short-term through legalregulations. The suspension of the periods of time set forth inthe Civil Procedure Law No. 6100and suspension of the enforcement and bankruptcy proceedingscontinuing under the scope of the Bankruptcyand Enforcement LawNo. 2004 were some of thosemeasures. The same law furthercomprises the following provisions:
• Ministryof Energy and Natural Resources is authorized to claim force majeure in respect of the taxpayers under the scope of the Mining Law.
• Facilitating arrangements have been made concerning the short-time working allowance.
• Make-up period is raised from 2 to 4 months.
• The wage subsidy provided for the employers shall continue to apply for the year 2020.
• Failure to pay the rent of business places for the period of March to June, 2020 shall not be deemed to be a legal ground to terminate the lease contracts andto vacate the leased property.
• The President is authorized to postpone the payment of electricity andnatural gas invoices.