TİCARİ SIRRIN İFŞASINDAN DOĞAN CEZA SORUMLULUĞUNA İLİŞKİN TÜRK VE ALMAN HUKUK SİSTEMLERİNDEKİ GÜNCEL DURUMUN DEĞERLENDİRİLMESİ

.Trade secret refers to any information, documents or data that have an independent and economic value in relation to a commercial enterprise, or company's scope of activity, or that provide a competitive advantage to the person who owns the secret and brings profit to the relevant business in the market. This information is known only to a limited circle, and the owner prefers that it should not be made public. Unlawful disclosure of a trade secret will not only disadvantage the owner of the secret, but also damage the stability and trust of the free market economy. Protection under criminal law is considered necessary to prevent the disclosure of trade secrets, and to deter actions against disclosure. In this context, there are criminal regulations in both Turkish and German law. With reference to article 62/1-a of the Turkish Commercial Code (TTK) for the protection of trade secrets and the free market economy, the acts described in the TTK article 55/1-b-3 and TTK article 55/1-d subparagraphs, the deliberate acts of the crime of unfair competition cited in article 62/1-a, may prosecution for the crime of unfair competition arising from the disclosure of trade secrets. In addition, in Article 62/1-c of the TTK, there is another crime, that of seizing trade secrets. In addition, although the protected legal value is different, a similar regulation in terms of the subject of the crime, namely article 239 of the Turkish Penal Code, includes the crime of disclosing information or documents which constitute trade, banking, or customer secrets. These two regulations differ according to whether the secret that is the subject of the crime is obtained legally or unlawfully or according to whether the perpetrator himself discloses the secret or causes the secret to be disclosed. In addition, since these regulations in two Codes are similar in terms of the subject of the crime, their applicability to the concrete case should be evaluated separately. Article 17 of the German Unfair Competition Law (UWG) formerly regulated the disclosure of business and trade secrets. However, after the harmonization with the European Union's Directive No. 2016/943, the UWG penal sanctions were abolished and re-arranged in Article 23 of the Law on the Protection of Trade Secrets (GeschGehG). The cases within the scope of the crime in this law are currently regulated with reference to other articles in the GeschGehG. Crimes related to the disclosure of trade secrets are dealt with in a rather haphazard manner in the legislation of both countries and are regulated as a framework (white) norm. This raises issues about which type of crime or which elective action should be applied to the concrete event. In this respect, this study will focus on the regulation of the relevant crime types, and the boundaries and distinctions of the application areas. The analysis of each crime type by examining its elements, however, requires a more detailed study, and is outside the scope of this study, which focuses in more general terms on the crime types related to the subject.

Ticari sır, bir ticarî işletme veya şirketin faaliyet alanı ile ilgili olarak bağımsız ve ekonomik bir değeri olan veya sır sahibine rekabette avantaj sağlayan ve piyasada ilgili işletmeye başarı getiren, sınırlı bir çevre tarafından bilinen ve sahibinin alenileşmesini istemediği her türlü üretim, iş, pazarlama gibi hususlardaki bilgi, belge ve verilerdir. Ticari sırrın hukuka aykırı olarak ifşası, sır sahibine iktisadi açıdan zarar vereceği gibi serbest piyasa ekonomisinin istikrarını ve güvenini de zedeleyecektir. Ticari sırların ifşasının önlenmesi ve buna yönelik eylemlerin caydırıcılığının sağlanması için ceza hukukunun himayesi gerekli görülmektedir. Bu bağlamda hem Türk hukukunda hem de Alman hukukunda cezai düzenlemeler yer almaktadır. Ticari sırrın ve serbest piyasa ekonomisinin korunmasına yönelik olarak Türk Ticaret Kanunu (TTK) 62/1-a maddesinin atfıyla TTK madde 55/1-b-3 ve TTK madde 55/1-d bentlerinde yer alan fiiller, ticari sırların ifşasına ilişkin olarak TTK madde 62/1-a’daki haksız rekabet suçunun seçimlik hareketleri arasında düzenlenmiştir. Ayrıca TTK madde 62/1-c’de ticari sırların ele geçirilmesi suçu yer almaktadır. Bunun yanında korunan hukuki değer farklı olsa da suçun konusu bakımından benzer bir düzenleme Türk Ceza Kanunu’nun (TCK) 239. maddesinde ticarî sır, bankacılık sırrı veya müşteri sırrı niteliğindeki bilgi veya belgelerin açıklanması suçu yer almaktadır. Bu düzenlemeler birbirinden suça konu olan sırrın hukuka uygun ya da hukuka aykırı olarak elde edilip edilmediğine göre, sırrı bizzat ifşa etme ya da ifşaya yöneltme hareketine göre ayrılmaktadır. Ayrıca iki farklı kanunda yer alan bu düzenlemeler, suçun konusu bakımından benzer olduklarından somut olaya uygulanabilirlikleri ayrıca değerlendirilmelidir. Alman Haksız Rekabet Kanunu’nun (UWG) §17 ise iş ve işletme sırlarının ifşası suçunu düzenlemekteydi. Ancak Avrupa Birliği’nin 2016/943 sayılı Direktifi’ne uyum çalışmaları sonucunda UWG’de yer alan cezai yaptırımlar mülga edilip Ticari Sırların Korunması Kanunu’nun (GeschGehG) § 23 yeniden düzenlenmiş ancak suçun kapsamına giren haller GeschGehG’de yer alan diğer maddelere atıf yapılmak suretiyle düzenlenmiştir. Bunun yanında Alman Ceza Kanunun (StGB) § 203’te özel sırların ihlali suçu da ayrıca düzenlenmektedir. Ticari sırrın ifşasına yönelik suçlar her iki ülkenin mevzuatında da dağınık bir şekilde ele alınıp, eksik norm yöntemi ile düzenlenmiştir. Bu durum somut olaya hangi suç tipinin ya da suçun hangi seçimlik hareketinin uygulanması gerektiği konusunda problemlere neden olmaktadır. Bu bakımdan çalışmada ilgili suç tiplerinin ele alınış biçimleri, uygulama alanlarının sınırları ve ayrımları ele alınacaktır. Her bir suç tipinin unsurlarına ayrılarak incelenmesi daha detaylı bir çalışma gerektirdiğinden, bu çalışmada konuya ilişkin suç tiplerinin genel hatlarıyla ortaya konulması amaçlanmaktadır.

Trade secret refers to any information, documents or data that have an independent and economic value in relation to a commercial enterprise, or company's scope of activity, or that provide a competitive advantage to the person who owns the secret and brings profit to the relevant business in the market. This information is known only to a limited circle, and the owner prefers that it should not be made public. Unlawful disclosure of a trade secret will not only disadvantage the owner of the secret, but also damage the stability and trust of the free market economy. Protection under criminal law is considered necessary to prevent the disclosure of trade secrets, and to deter actions against disclosure. In this context, there are criminal regulations in both Turkish and German law. With reference to article 62/1-a of the Turkish Commercial Code (TTK) for the protection of trade secrets and the free market economy, the acts described in the TTK article 55/1-b-3 and TTK article 55/1-d subparagraphs, the deliberate acts of the crime of unfair competition cited in article 62/1-a, may prosecution for the crime of unfair competition arising from the disclosure of trade secrets. In addition, in Article 62/1-c of the TTK, there is another crime, that of seizing trade secrets. In addition, although the protected legal value is different, a similar regulation in terms of the subject of the crime, namely article 239 of the Turkish Penal Code, includes the crime of disclosing information or documents which constitute trade, banking, or customer secrets. These two regulations differ according to whether the secret that is the subject of the crime is obtained legally or unlawfully or according to whether the perpetrator himself discloses the secret or causes the secret to be disclosed. In addition, since these regulations in two Codes are similar in terms of the subject of the crime, their applicability to the concrete case should be evaluated separately. Article 17 of the German Unfair Competition Law (UWG) formerly regulated the disclosure of business and trade secrets. However, after the harmonization with the European Union's Directive No. 2016/943, the UWG penal sanctions were abolished and re-arranged in Article 23 of the Law on the Protection of Trade Secrets (GeschGehG). The cases within the scope of the crime in this law are currently regulated with reference to other articles in the GeschGehG. Crimes related to the disclosure of trade secrets are dealt with in a rather haphazard manner in the legislation of both countries and are regulated as a framework (white) norm. This raises issues about which type of crime or which elective action should be applied to the concrete event. In this respect, this study will focus on the regulation of the relevant crime types, and the boundaries and distinctions of the application areas. The analysis of each crime type by examining its elements, however, requires a more detailed study, and is outside the scope of this study, which focuses in more general terms on the crime types related to the subject.