Homeland Security and Government ICT: Turkey Introduced National Mobile Warning System

Turkey has recently introduced its first extended mobile warning system with effectiveness of “The Regulation Regarding Establishment and Operation of National Mobile Warning System” (“the Regulation”) on 26 February 2021. The national mobile warning system (“System”) enables users to receive warning notifications through at least one of the CMAS (Commercial Mobile Admonition System), CBS (Cellular Broadcast), pre-call announcement and SMS (text message) methods in case of disasters, emergencies and situations that may pose a threat to public order, national security, and national cybersecurity in geographically specific regions. The System shall be established with the cooperation of state institutions, and organisations, and the Information Technologies and Communications Authority. The Regulation also imposes certain liabilities to the operators that are defined as authorized companies including but not limited to   providing continuous mobile electronic communication services, ensuring communication networks and infrastructure. Accordingly, the operators are obliged to establish and operate the technical infrastructure that will ensure that the warning notifications sent to them by the System through CMAS, CBS, SMS and pre-call announcement methods are sent duly and free of charge. Furthermore, the operators are required to achieve the sustain the performance criteria for specific terms as outlined in the Regulation.

Responsibility of the Operators for Compatibility of Devices

The Regulation requires the operators to cooperate with producers, manufacturers, or importers to ensure that the System to be compatible with the devices.

Along with the obligations of the operators, some opportunities are also provided to the operators pursuant to the Regulation. In this regard, SMS sending capacity of the operators are to be increased and it will be ensured operators to reach mobile users across the country quickly. This would be possible also for reaching to people in certain regions instantly The Regulation restricts the misuse of the System and restricts to use the SMS capacity dedicated for the System for commercial purposes. In addition, it has been stipulated that the operators will take priority over the warning notifications sent to them by the System through CBS and SMS methods.

It is restricted that the operators will not be able to use any personal data they can obtain for any warning notification for any other purpose.

Şafak Herdem, Nihan Ünal