Contractor Registration in Türkiye: Foreign Documents

Contractors in Türkiye obtain a contractor authorisation number from the Ministry of Environment, Urbanisation and Climate Change under the regulation on the classification and registration of building contractors. Applicants hand in their documents in a closed envelope with the application form annexed to the regulation, to the provincial directorate. Work done abroad and foreign company documents raise questions of certification and translation.

Language and the procurement rules

The Manisa provincial directorate's page states that the language of applications is Turkish and that documents drawn up in a foreign language must be submitted with their original Turkish translations. The regulation itself requires documents to follow the rules on how documents are submitted in the legislation it refers to, and that reference is to the Public Procurement Law and its secondary legislation. The texts we quote do not explain in detail how the Ministry applies those rules, so ask the provincial directorate.

The Public Procurement Authority's regulation on works tenders sets those rules. Official documents from states party to the Apostille Convention are exempt from certification by a Turkish consulate or the Ministry of Foreign Affairs if they bear an apostille. Otherwise, a document is certified by the foreign ministry or another competent authority of the issuing country and then by the Turkish consulate there, or by that country's mission in Türkiye and then by the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Documents issued by honorary consulates are not acted on.

Translations and experience abroad

For Turkish bidders, translations of foreign-language documents must be made by sworn translators in Türkiye and approved by a notary. For foreign bidders, a translation made by a sworn translator in the issuing country and bearing an apostille needs no further certification. A translation made by a sworn translator in Türkiye and approved by a notary also needs no further certification.

For work done abroad, experience is shown under the law of that country with details including the employer's name and the place and nature of the work. Turkish commercial counsellors or attachés abroad may issue completion certificates for Turkish citizens and companies that carried out construction work there. A balance sheet drawn up abroad must follow that country's law and be approved by the authority competent to issue it.

We prepare notarised Turkish translations of foreign contracts, completion certificates and company documents in Ankara through translators sworn before a Turkish notary. The Ministry decides on the authorisation number.