Objection to Administrative Fines and Action for Annulment

What we do in this area

An administrative fine is a sanction imposed by a public authority without a court judgment: municipal executive committees, governorships, district governorships, law enforcement, provincial directorates, the Social Security Institution (SGK), regulatory bodies and ministries exercise this power on the basis of their own laws. The office handles the identification of the legal basis of the fine and the competent authority, applications to the criminal judgeship of peace (sulh ceza hakimliği), actions for annulment before the administrative court, internal objections to the institution, and actions against the payment order issued at the collection stage of a final fine. In company files the fine is usually based on an inspection report, and the report stage is part of the file.

This page is a subtopic of the administrative law section. The SGK inspection and premium debt side is covered on the action for determination of employment and SGK disputes page; acts imposed together with the fine, such as revocation of a permit and sealing, are covered on the action for annulment of an administrative act page.

Common types of file

How the process works

The administrative sanction decision states the act constituting the misdemeanour, the legal provision relied on, the evidence, the date of the decision and the official who took it (Art. 25 of the Misdemeanours Law). The decision is notified to the person concerned; the notification states the route and time limit for application (Art. 26). A deficiency in these elements is the first unlawfulness raised in the application.

Under the general route, the application is made by petition to the criminal judgeship of peace within two weeks of notification of the decision; the petition sets out the grounds for setting the decision aside and the evidence (Art. 27). If the period is missed due to force majeure, the application may be made within two weeks of the cause ceasing to exist. The judgeship requests from the administration the information and documents underlying the decision, examines the matter on the file or, if it considers it necessary, at a hearing, and decides either to reject the application or to set the decision aside (Art. 28). This decision may be objected to within two weeks of notification (Art. 29); for fines not exceeding the amount stated in the law, the judgeship's decision is final.

If the special law providing for the fine assigns jurisdiction to the administrative courts, the application is made to the administrative court and the procedure under the Administrative Procedure Code (İYUK) applies; if the special law sets a period, that period applies, otherwise the general sixty day period runs (Art. 7 İYUK). If, in the same act, another decision falling within the jurisdiction of the administrative courts (such as revocation of a permit or suspension of operations) has been taken together with the administrative fine, the claims of unlawfulness concerning the fine are heard by the administrative courts together with the request for annulment of that act (Art. 27/8 of the Misdemeanours Law).

Time limits and points to watch

Under the general rule, a twenty-five per cent discount applies if the fine is paid within the statutory payment period; early payment does not extinguish the right to apply (Art. 17 of the Misdemeanours Law). Final fines are collected under the Law No. 6183 on the Procedure for the Collection of Public Receivables; an action against the payment order sent at this stage concerns not the merits of the fine but whether the debt exists, the regularity of the notification and the limitation period. In misdemeanours, the limitation periods for investigation and enforcement are graded according to the amount of the fine (Art. 20 and Art. 21) and are checked separately in the file.

The most common problems in practice are learning of the notification from the payment order rather than from the fine decision, and applying to the wrong authority. When an application to the wrong authority is rejected for lack of jurisdiction, the two-week period has usually expired; for this reason the legal basis cited in the fine decision is examined before the application.

How we work

The office starts with the fine decision and the notification document; the competent authority and the time limit are determined according to the legal basis, and the early payment option is assessed together with the decision to apply. The application petition is written under separate headings on the formal elements of the decision, whether the act constitutes a misdemeanour, and the calculation of the fine amount. In company files the inspection report, the written defence and the internal objection to the institution are run on the same calendar. Our working method is described on the how we work page.