Charging Service Regulation Regarding Electric Vehicles Is Published! 19 April 2022

A. Procedures and Principles Regarding Charging Network Administration

Within the scope of the 4th Article of the Regulation, charging network administration will be carried out in the context of the charging network administrator license (“License”) obtained from the Energy Market Regulatory Authority (“Authority”).

There are restrictions in regard to the Regulation on the terms of applying for a license and providing charging services. Accordingly, license holder legal person operating in the electricity market and whose tariffs are regulated will not be able to apply for this license and provide charging services.

In case of operating a charging network that is contrary to the law, the sanctions stipulated in accordance with 16th Article of the Electricity Market Law (“Law”) will be applied to the person concerned.

B. Procedure, Evaluation and Finalisation of the License Application

The legal person who will apply for a license within the context of the regulation;

• Must be established as a joint stock company or limited liability company,
• Except for the applications made by state economic enterprises, its minimum capital should not be less than 4.500.000,00-TL in accordance with the Energy Market’s Regulatory Board’s (“Board”) decision numbered 10853,
• In case of incorporation as a joint stock company, all of its shares, excluding those traded in the stock exchange, must be registered and the company must not issue bearer shares, except for those to be traded in the stock exchange.

Legal entities meeting the conditions described above will only be able to apply through the EPDK Application System as of 18.04.2022. In accordance with the information text dated 07.04.2022 published by the Authority, applications made manually or by mail will not be evaluated.

In this context, the original or a notarised copy of the authorization documents of the person or people authorized by the applicant must be submitted to the Authority by hand or by mail in accordance with the petition format at https://www.epdk.gov.tr/ Detay/ Icerik/ 5-12653/ sarj-agi-isletmeci-lisansi-basvurusu-hakkinda. The cited application will be finalised by the Board within thirty days at the latest following the preliminary evaluation of the Authority, and the rights and obligations related to the license will be valid as of the date specified in the license. Based on the decision, the license holder's business name, registered trademark and license period information will be announced on the website of the Authority.

C. License Fee

According to the 11th Article of the Regulation, license fees consist of obtaining, amending, and  issuing a copy of a license, along with annual license fees. In accordance with the Board decision numbered 10895, the license fee to be applied in 2022 is 300.000,00-TL; The amendment fee has been determined as 14.000.00-TL and the copying fee has been determined as 3,000.00-TL. License fees will be determined by the Board and announced on the website until the end of December each year.

In addition, in line with the Article 11/6th of the Regulation, annual license fee will not be collected from license holders until 01.01.2028.

D. License Term, Amendment and Termination

Pursuant to the Article 12th of the Regulation, the license will be issued for a maximum of 49 years. This period may be extended upon request to be submitted to the Authority at the earliest nine months and at the latest three months before the end of the current license period.

In consonance with the Regulation, the license automatically terminates at the end of the license period without any notification, furthermore, the license can also be terminated by the decision of the Board. The main grounds for the termination of the license with the decision of the Board are as follows;

• Finalisation of the licensee's bankruptcy,
• Termination of the legal entity of the licensee, excluding the merger and acquisition transaction,
• Request of the licensee

E. Rights and Obligations of the Licensee

The charging network to be created by the licensee consists of private charging stations, which are open to the public and run commercial activities, operated by the licensee in person or within the scope of certificates issued by it. In this context, the licensee is obliged to establish a charging network consisting of at least 50 charging units and stations in at least 5 different districts within 6 months from the validity date of the license. Necessary hardware features regarding the charging units are cited in the 15th Article of the Regulation.

The main rights and obligations regulated pursuant to the ongoing articles of the Regulation are as follows;

• The right to provide charging service throughout the country,
• The right to establish and function a charging station,
• The right to set up and operate a charging station within the scope of the issued certificates,
• The right to conclude a loyalty agreement with users,
• Obligation to provide the charging service continuously, with high quality and uninterruptedly, excluding the exceptions specified in the Regulation, without discrimination between equal parties,
• Obligation to keep records of user complaints for two years,
• Obligation to keep the data collected within the scope of the service for at least 5 years from the date of service,
• Obligation to establish channels where user complaints can be recorded and followed, and to inform the user by finalising the requests within fifteen business days.

The Regulation also issues the situation where the license holder adds a new charging station to the network or wants to remove a charging station from it, and a condition of application / notification to the Authority in such cases is emposed by the Regulation.

F. Certificates and Charging Stations to be Issued by the Licensee

Pursuant to the 20th Article of the Regulation, the licensee can issue a certificate for the establishment and administration of the charging station by third parties and for the charging station to function in connection with its own network. The Nomothete has limited the duration of the issued certificate to the validity period of the licensee’s license in any case. Moreover, the administrator of the charging station will operate under the supervision and control of the certificate issuer, and it may be possible for the station to be inspected by the Authority or competents.

In the context of the regulation, the charging station may consist of one or more charging units, and the charging service to be provided must be carried out in connection with a network. However, pursuant to the 5th Article of the Regulation, it is not obligatory to connect private charging stations and charging units that users set up for their own needs without engaging in commercial activities to a charging network.

In order for the charging stations that will operate commercially to start providing charging services, they must first have a business license and a work permit.