Database

Since January 2018, foreign providers of digital services to Turkish consumers are required to register a VAT number and charge Turkish VAT. This is not the case for sales to Turkish resident businesses. Instead, the Turkish business’ customer can report the transactions using their ‘reverse charge’ process in their own VAT return. There is no VAT registration threshold either case.

In addition to a standard VAT rate of 18%, there is a 25% excise tax on calls and SMS.

Turkey's state broadcaster, the Turkish Radio and Television Corporation (TRT), is funded in part through a 10% levy on mobile phones and a 2% levy on computers.

There is a 25% tax on the sale of handsets and a fixed fee of approximately USD 24 on SIM card sales. This is in addition to a standard VAT rate of 18%.

The Turkish Copyright Law requires manufacturers and importers to pay a copyright levy to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Turkey on blank video cassettes, audio cassettes, computer discs, CDs, DVDs and other technical equipment which serve the reproduction of intellectual and artistic works.

The rate of the duty imposed on imports originating in Russia is 3% of the cost, insurance and freight (CIF) value. The rate of the duty imposed on imports originating in Ukraine is 6.9% of the CIF value.

According to Switzerland's de minimis rule goods with total duties/taxes less than 4 SDR (5 USD) are waived.

The European Commission has reported Switzerland has proposed that the rules for low value consignments which are exempt from VAT be modified. In the future, all imports from foreign companies with more than CHF 100.000 turnover from low value consignments will be subject to VAT (regardless of the value of the individual consignment).

Switzerland has not adopted the UNCITRAL model law on e-commerce or e-signatures.

BAKOM, the telecommunication regulatory Agency of Switzerland, has reported the existence of mobile subscriptions for smaller target groups as part of which the use of VoIP services (e.g. Skype) is excluded.

Under Swiss law, there is no provision addressing specifically the liability of Internet Service Providers (ISPs). Activities of ISPs must be assessed according to provisions generally applicable to criminal and civil liability.

Article 20 of the Federal Act on Data Protection, effective in August 2018, states that data controllers must conduct an impact assessment if processing may lead to a high risk for the data subject’s privacy or fundamental rights (e.g. in case of extensive processing of sensitive personal data or profiling). If such a risk is confirmed, the Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner (FDPIC) must be consulted prior to the processing. No impact assessment is required if the Controller is certified by a recognized certification body, or complies with a code of conduct. In case of multiple similar processing activities, the Controller may conduct a general impact assessment which applies across all processing activities.

On the 13 of May 2014, the European Court of Justice ruled that individuals are entitled to seek the deletion of links on search engines about themself if the information is outdated or irrelevant, the so-called right to be forgotten. Although the court ruling only applies to the 28 European Member States, four other countries - Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland - are de facto making use of it.

The providers of telecommunications services and postal servicesmust retain information necessary for the subscriber identification as well as traffic and billing data for six months. In addition, providers of telecommunication servers are required to retain for six months web server access logs including IP addresses.

The OECD reports that in Switzerland, more than eight documents are needed to obtain a business visa.