An Ontario Company Opening a Liaison Office in Türkiye
Which documents an Ontario company files with Türkiye's Ministry of Industry and Technology for a liaison office, and how Ontario authenticates them.
An Ontario company opens a liaison office (irtibat bürosu) in Türkiye by applying to the Ministry of Industry and Technology. Its General Directorate of Incentive Implementation and Foreign Investment handles the file under the Implementing Regulation of the Foreign Direct Investment Law.
What the Turkish file contains
The regulation's document list includes the following items. The first is a declaration on form EK-7 that sets out the scope of the office's work and the company's undertaking that the office will not carry out commercial activity. It must come with a document showing that the company official who signs the declaration has signing authority. The list also includes an activity report, or a balance sheet and income statement, on the foreign company. It further includes an authorization document for the person or persons appointed to run the office, and a power of attorney if someone else handles the setup. The company's certificate of activity (Faaliyet Belgesi) must be certified either by the relevant Turkish consulate or under the Hague Apostille Convention.
If the company is newly incorporated, the Ministry may require that at least one year has passed since incorporation. It assesses such requests by factors including the line of business, capital and number of employees. If you hand in original documents, the General Directorate certifies a copy and returns the original to you. A later change of the company's name is reported to the General Directorate together with the documents on that change.
The regulation contains no provision on Turkish translation. The quoted texts do not settle whether translations are needed or in what form, so confirm this with the General Directorate before filing.
Preparing the documents in Ontario
Official Documents Services (ODS) authenticates Ontario documents for use outside Canada. The quoted Ontario text calls this step authentication and does not settle how it relates to the apostille route named in the Turkish regulation; confirm this with ODS. The consular route through the relevant Turkish consulate remains open under the regulation.
Business registry documents issued as of 1991 by the Business and Personal Property Branch or the Ontario Business Registry are eligible without notarization. Documents notarized by an Ontario notary public also remain eligible. Where notarization is required, it comes first, and ODS has no in-house notary. The Turkish regulation attaches the certification requirement to the certificate of activity. For the declaration, the authorization document and the power of attorney, the quoted texts do not settle certification, so ask the General Directorate.
You submit the service request online through the document authentication portal or on a paper form. You deliver the documents by mail or in person to ODS or select ServiceOntario locations. ODS authenticates hard copies only; electronic documents are not authenticated.
The General Directorate decides whether the documents are accepted.