Legislation: provisions affecting public use providers
Four separate pieces of legislation impose obligations related to internet access on businesses such as hotels, cafés, restaurants, offices, schools, and hospitals: Law No. 5651, the Regulation on Internet Public Use Providers, KVKK (6698), and Electronic Signature Law No. 5070. This page gives you access to each one's relevant articles, with the verbatim text and a plain-language explanation.
Law No. 5651
Purpose, definitions (public use provider, traffic information), and Article 7: operating permit, access records, administrative sanctions.
RegulationPublic Use Providers Regulation
Definition of access records, obligations for everyone versus commercial providers, retention period, oversight, and sanctions.
LawKVKK and Access Records
General principles, the processing condition and legal basis, the duty to inform, and how data security applies to access records.
LawElectronic Signature Law and Timestamps
The official definition of a timestamp, the electronic certificate service provider, and its relationship to the integrity value.
In short: who has to do what?
Law No. 5651 and its related Regulation define two separate groups: all internet public use providers (hotels, cafés, offices, schools, hospitals, and the like — anyone offering internet access to their customers, employees, or guests) and commercial internet public use providers (internet cafés and similar venues that sell internet access for a fee). The table below summarizes which obligation applies to which group.
| Obligation | All public use providers | Commercial (internet-café-like) |
|---|---|---|
| Operating permit | No | Yes (Art. 7/1, Regulation Art. 5/1-a) |
| Content filtering system | Yes (Regulation Art. 4/1-a) | Yes + safe internet service (Art. 5/1-b, c) |
| Access records, 2-year retention | Yes (Regulation Art. 4/1-b) | Yes (Regulation Art. 5/1-d) |
| User identification (in public areas) | Yes, via SMS/similar (Regulation Art. 4/1-c) | Yes |
| Obtaining a fixed IP | No | Yes (Regulation Art. 5/1-ç) |
| Daily integrity value | No | Yes (Regulation Art. 5/1-e) |
| Administrative sanction (warning, 1,000–15,000 TRY, closure) | No | Yes (Art. 7/4, Regulation Art. 11) |
One exception: the obligation to block content and keep access records (5651, Art. 7/2) covers "all internet public use providers, regardless of whether they operate on a commercial basis" — which is why both of these rows in the table above show "Yes" for both groups.
Read the full guide to Law No. 5651 for your business
This page is for information only; for the current text of the legislation, refer to the official sources: 5651, the Regulation, KVKK, 5070.
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