KVKK article 14: The person who suffers damage due to unlawful processing of data has the right to compensation.
Situations Giving the Right to Compensation
- Unauthorized data processing
- Data breach (leak)
- Wrong decision with wrong data (automatic decision)
- Unauthorized marketing
- Unauthorized transfer
- Failure to provide information
Damages that may be claimed
- Material compensation:Concrete damage (e.g. identity information leaked and card opened)
- Pecuniary damage:Sadness, fear, loss of reputation
- Penal clause:If there is a contract
Officer Court
- Civil court of first instance
- Consumer court if in the capacity of a consumer
- Labor court if related to labor law
Duration
- 2 years before learning about the damage and the perpetrator
- 10 years in any case (TBK art. 72)
Proof
- Violation existence
- Personalized damage
- Causality between violation and damage
- Fault of the data controller
Supreme Court of Appeals HGK
HGK stated that non-pecuniary damages in KVKK violations will be evaluated similarly to violations of personal rights, beyond the "tax area", and compensations ranging from thousands of TL to hundreds of thousands of TL have been awarded in recent years.
Practical Recommendations
- Collect documents when you learn about the violation
- First complain to the KVKK Board (its decision becomes a precedent)
- Then apply to the court
- Lawyer calculation support is a must
KVKK and compensation lawyer is recommended.