The “Law on Amendments to Certain Laws
on Ensuring the Effective and Efficient Functioning of the Judiciary,” publicly
known as the “12th Judicial Package,” was adopted by the General
Assembly of the Grand National Assembly of Türkiye on July 16, 2026, and
subsequently enacted. The package, which introduces amendments to several key
laws, particularly the Debt Enforcement and Bankruptcy Law, the Code of Civil
Procedure, and the Code of Criminal Procedure, also includes a significant
provision concerning the use of expert witnesses, with important implications
for practice.
The amendment adds a new paragraph to
Article 63 of Law Nr. 2802 on Judges and Prosecutors, which sets out the
disciplinary penalty of reprimand. Accordingly, seeking an expert opinion on
matters that can be resolved based on the legal knowledge required of judges
and prosecutors has been included among the acts subject to a reprimand for
judges and public prosecutors.
Article 266 of the Code of Civil
Procedure Nr. 6100 and the Expert Witness Law Nr. 6754 already prohibited the
appointment of an expert witness on matters that can be resolved through
general knowledge and experience or the legal knowledge required by the
judicial profession. Nevertheless, despite this prohibition, it had long been criticized
in practice that numerous disputes requiring merely legal characterization were
nevertheless referred to expert witnesses, with the resulting reports
effectively serving as draft judgments, thereby prolonging proceedings and
imposing unnecessary costs on the parties. The new regulation makes obtaining
an expert report on legal matters subject to disciplinary sanctions despite the
existing prohibition.
The regulation aims to ensure that the
expert witness system operates in accordance with its intended function and to
strengthen the role of judges and prosecutors in judicial proceedings. Seeking
expert opinions on matters requiring technical or specialized expertise will,
however, remain permissible.
