Objective

ARTICLE 1 - The objective of this Decree-Law is to establish the State Planning Organization together with regulating its organizational and functional principles with a view to carrying out, in uniformity and in an efficient, orderly and rapid way, the economic, social and cultural planning activities of the country in order to use resources efficiently and to accelerate development.

The SPO is affiliated to the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister may use his authorities on matters concerning the organization through a State Minister.

ARTICLE 2 - The duties of the State Planning Organization are as follows;

a) to advise the Government in determining economic, social and cultural policies and targets of the country by taking into account every type of natural, human and economic resources and possibilities of the country,

b) to prepare long-term development plans and annual programs conforming to the targets determined by the government, 

c) to coordinate activities of the ministries and public institutions concerning economic, social and cultural policies, to ensure efficient implementation and advise the government regarding policy issues,

d) to develop future-oriented strategies by working closely with international institutions, to help reduce uncertainties in the medium and long term for the private sector by making policy recommendations in cooperation with the private sector,

e) to put forward views and to advise on improving structures and activities of the relevant institutions and establishments and operations of local administrations so that development plans and annual programs could succesfully be implemented,

f) to monitor, co-ordinate and evaluate implementation of development plans and annual programs and if required to make proper amendments,

g) to provide advisory services for the government as to implementation of financial, monetary, foreign trade and foreign exchange policies conforming with the targets of development plans and annual programs,

h) to prepare the general framework of the incentive policies for the private sector and foreign capital activities to be consistent with the plans' targets and objectives and to make recommendations on policy issues for the government, 

i) to determine and make recommendations on the measures to be taken to accelerate development in priority regions and to co-ordinate and monitor the progress of their implementation, 

j) to inform and propose to the government on improving relations with international economic institutions and carrying out contacts and negotiations with these institutions in accordance with the principles and targets of development plans and annual programs,

k) to prepare development plans on a regional or sectoral basis.

ARTICLE 3 - The State Planning Organization is comprised of the High Planning Council, the Money-Credit and Coordination Committee and the Undersecretariat of the State Planning Organization.

ARTICLE 4 -The High Planning Council is composed of the Prime Minister acting as the chairman, various ministers appointed by the Prime Minister and the Undersecretary of the SPO. The Prime Minister delegates the State Ministers to act as chair of the meetings in his/her absence.

Depending on the topics to be discussed at the Council, the chairman can invite other ministers and bureaucrats. 

Secretarial services of the Council are provided by the Undersecretariat of the SPO.

Duties of the High Planning Council

ARTICLE 5 - Duties of the High Planning Council are as follows:

a) to provide assistance to the Council of Ministers in determining policy targets and planning of economic, social and cultural development and to examine development plans and annual programs whether they are sufficient or in conformity with the goals determined before submitting them to the Council of Ministers,

b) to take high level decisions concerning the country's domestic issues and foreign economic relations, 

c) to take every type of decision related to the State Economic Enterprises within the framework of development plans and annual programs,

d) to determine the principles related to investment and export incentives,

e) to approve budgets of the Housing Development Administration and the Housing Development Fund,

f) to take decisions in areas on which it is authorized by laws and other legislation.

ARTICLE 6 - a) The Money-Credit and Coordination Committee, chaired by the State Minister for the SPO, consists of the various ministers appointed by the Prime Minister, the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Finance, the Undersecretary of the SPO, the Undersecretary of the Treasury, the Undersecretary of Foreign Trade and the Governor of the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey.

The Chairman can invite the ministers who are interested in the subjects of the meetings and if required, high-level bureaucrats can also be invited.

Secretarial services of the Committee are provided by the Under-secretariat of the SPO.

b) Duties of the Money-Credit and Coordination Committee are as follows;

Structure of the Undersecretariat

ARTICLE 7 - The Undersecretariat of the State Planning Organization consists of the central organization and overseas representative offices.

ARTICLE 8 - The Undersecretary is the highest authority of the Undersecretariat of the State Planning Organization. He is attached to the Prime Minister or the Minister of State the Prime Minister has appointed and is in charge of the management of the activities of the Undersecretariat.

With the aim of assisting the Undersecretary, at most five deputy undersecretaries and a Secretary General may be appointed. The Prime Minister determines the number of deputy undersecretaries.

ARTICLE 9 - The main service units within the Undersecretariat of the State Planning Organization are given below:

The Undersecretariat of the State Planning Organization may, if required, set up permanent or temporary Special Expertise Commissions within the main general directorates. 

Furthermore, in order to draw up development programs on regional or sectoral basis, temporary work groups may be set up upon the proposal of the Undersecretary and confirmation of the Prime Minister or the Minister the State Planning Organization is attached to.

ARTICLE 10 - The main functions of the General Directorate of Annual Programs and Economic Evaluations are to establish macro balances of annual programs; to contribute to the preparation of development plans; to monitor and evaluate conjunctural developments, to do research on public finance, balance of payments, money, banking and financial markets, and within this framework to propose necessary policies; to put forward views on institutional and legal arrangements, to participate in discussions and negotiations with international institutions. 

ARTICLE 11 -The functions of the General Directorate of Economic Modeling and Strategic Research are to establish macro balances for the development plans; to contribute to the preparation of development plans; to do research on economic modeling, world economy, economies of countries, national and international strategies, industrialization, technology, environmental policies; to forecast long-term effects of economic and social policies using macro models; to keep track of developments related to regional integrations and strategies; to prepare alternatives for these development; to monitor and evaluate the implementation of development plans; to participate in discussions and negotiations with international institutions in these areas.

ARTICLE 12 -The duties of the General Directorate of Economic Sectors and Coordination are to contribute to the preparation of development plans and annual programs by doing research and studies in areas such as project development and evaluation in the economic sectors, industrialization, incentives and guidance, domestic and foreign trade policies; to develop future oriented strategies; to prepare public investment programs; to monitor public projects and make revisions during the year; to prepare term reports about implementation; to direct implementation of programs; to put forward views on institutional and legal arrangements; to coordinate public and private institutions for the implementation of plans and annual programs and to establish committees consisting of high level authorities for this purpose; to participate in discussions and negotiations with international institutions.

ARTICLE 13 - The duties of the General Directorate of Social Sectors and Coordination are to contribute to the preparation of development plans and annual programs by doing studies and research on social sectors; to develop future oriented strategies related to social sectors; to prepare public investment programs; to monitor public projects and to make revisions during the year; to direct implementation of programs; to put forward views about institutional and legal arrangements; to coordinate the collaboration of public and private institutions for implementation of plans and annual programs and to establish various committees for this purpose consisting of high level authorities of certain institutions and establishments; to participate in discussions and negotiations with international institutions.

ARTICLE 14 - The duties of this Directorate are to do research and planning at city and sub-city levels; to provide uniformity between studies conducted by other public institutions pertaining to these subjects and the Development Plan and Annual Program; to develop projects towards solving problems to emerge during the implementation of structural adjustment policies and to coordinate studies made within this sphere; to generate policies towards solving problems of small and medium scale industrial enterprises, problems of the tradesman and artisans and of the rural areas within the framework of enhancing local employment and entrepreneurship; to put forward views on institutional and legal arrangements; to direct implementation; identify priority development areas and their necessities; to do the required work in order to accelerate development in these areas by taking into consideration the peculiarities of this region, to coordinate regional development projects and to deliver opinions on the issues within its scope; to participate in discussions and negotiations with international institutions. 

ARTICLE 15 -The functions of the General Directorate of Relations with the European Union are to conduct studies and research on the targets and policies to be determined by the Government within the scope of relations with the European Union comprising economic, social, legal and other subjects and to make recommendations.

ARTICLE 16 -The duty of the General Directorate of Foreign Economic Relations is to ensure the required studies for an effective settlement of regional, multi-lateral and bilateral economic relations in congruence with the principles, targets and policies laid down in the development plans and annual programs; to provide technical assistance to developing countries in order to promote their development efforts; to carry out the necessary work concerning organizations established to enhance economic and commercial cooperation among developing countries, especially Islamic Countries; if need be, to provide secretarial services for the permanent commissions of these organizations.

ARTICLE 17 - In order to give counsel to the government on the determination of economic, social and cultural policies and targets at the most effective way, an Information Management Center has been set up within the Undersecretariat which enables the acquisition, evaluation and storage of current information on economic, social and cultural developments and innovations throughout the world and which makes this information available to the public .

The duty of the Management Information Center is to provide the required information obtained from national and international institutions to users for a smooth determination of the economic, social and cultural policies and targets in the development plans and annual programs, and to take the necessary measures for the efficient utilisation of the computer systems of the Undersecretariat.

The Undersecretariat makes the necessary arrangements for the working conditions. Both, computer engineers to be employed on contract basis and system analysts as permanently employed personnel at this center shall comply with the conditions stipulated in Article 32 of this Decree-Law.

ARTICLE 18 - The Undersecretariat of the State Planning Organization, as part of its responsibilities, may establish overseas agencies at international economic institutions and at foreign centers of economical importance.

The titles and degrees of the personnel to be charged at the overseas organizations of the Undersecretariat have been listed in Annex - 2. The setting up of overseas units, the degrees of the titles registered in the list and the representation through which the overseas units will be established, shall be determined by the Prime Minister with the assent of the Minister of Foreign Affairs. In case new overseas units are established, the provisions of the related legislation shall be applied.

ARTICLE 19 - The consultancy units within the State Planning Organization are :

Undersecretariat Advisors

ARTICLE 20 - Within the organization, maximum five advisors to be of assistance to the Undersecretary on issues of special importance and of priority, and twenty-five Undersecretariat advisors to be of assistance in other departments may be employed.

ARTICLE 21 - Legal Advisory Group is responsible for :

ARTICLE 22 - Support services within the State Planning Organization are carried out by the Personnel Department, Administrative and Financial Affairs Department. Publication and Public Relations Department is responsible for publications, and representing the Organization.

Defence Unit performs the tasks laid down in the Special Law and other laws.

Information Compilation

ARTICLE 23 - The State Planning Organization has the authority to request all the necessary information related to its tasks directly from all the public instititutions and other natural and legal persons. These public institutions and the natural and legal persons have to provide the required information on time. 

Commercial confidentiality of the information received through these means shall be maintained.

ARTICLE 24 - The Undersecretariat of the State Planning Organization works in close cooperation with the ministries, public institutions, the State Economic Enterprises, establishments having the nature of public institutions and high level private institutions in compiling information, preparing the plans and monitoring their implementation.

The SPO determines the data required at the stages of preparing, implementing and monitoring the development plans and annual programs, the purpose and time intervals for the compilation and evaluation of these data and the form of presentation of them. 

The State Statistics Institute works in close cooperation with the SPO with a view to providing necessary information on time and sufficiently. 

ARTICLE 25 - The economic, social and cultural targets and the principles for the determination of policies are decided by the High Planning Council.

The Council of Ministers discusses the principles determined and reaches a conclusion.

ARTICLE 26 - The Prime Minister or the Minister concerned instructs the State Planning Organization to prepare the development plan and annual programs within the framework of the principles and targets adopted by the Council of Ministers. 

Adoption of the Development Plan

ARTICLE 27 - The High Planning Council meets within a week following the submission of the development plan to the Prime Ministry. The Council examines the plan and reports to the Council of Ministers whether the plan is consistent with the main targets adopted. Following the adoption of the plan by the Council of Ministers it is submitted to the Turkish Grand National Assembly for approval.

ARTICLE 28 - Annual Programs are prepared by the Undersecretariat of the State Planning Organization and then submitted to the High Planning Council. The Council examines the programs and reports to the Council of Ministers. The programs adopted by the Council of Ministers gain certainty. Medium - term estimates are also submitted with the programs. 

Annual programs are prepared before the budgets and working schedules. While preparing the budgets and working schedules, the principles adopted within the annual programs are taken into account. 

During the discussion of the budgets at the Turkish Grand National Assembly Plan and the Budget Commission, the principles and procedures laid down in Article 2 of the Law, no 3067, on Putting the Development Plans into Effect and Protection of Their Entirety shall be taken as a basis for adding the multi-year investment projects which are closely related with the entirety of the Development Plan and Annual Programs.

With a view to accomplishing smoothly the macro policies included in the annual programs, evaluation reports are submitted to the Council of Ministers.

ARTICLE 29 - The Undersecretariat of the State Planning Organization ensures the conformity and cooperation in implementation of the plans, the annual programs and projects.

Implementation of the plan, annual program and the project are periodically reviewed by the Organization. After the results are evaluated, necessary complementary measures to be taken are submitted to the Council of Ministers within the reports to be prepared at certain stages.

Authority Transfer

ARTICLE 30 - The Undersecretary and administrators at every level can delegate authority to their subordinates in writing, provided that the limits are clearly stated. Delegation of authority does not remove the responsibility of the administrator. 

ARTICLE 31 - At the Undersecretariat of the State Planning Organization, the Undersecretary, the Deputy Undersecretary, the Secretary General, the General Director, Undersecretariat Advisor, Senior Legal Advisor, the Deputy Secretary General, the Deputy General Director , Head of Department, Head of Section, Legal Advisor, Planning Expert, Junior Planning Expert, and Computer Engineer and System Analyst actually in charge in the Management Information Centre may be employed on contract corresponding to their posts, regardless of the provisions of the Law on Civil Servants, No 657, and other laws pertaining to employment of personnel on contract basis.

Foreign experts may also be employed on contract. 

The contract provisions and procedures, the amount of salary and fringe benefits of the personnel to be employed on contract shall be determined by the Council of Ministers. 

The personnel actually working at the head office of the State Planning Organization and the personnel employed pursuant to the first paragraph of Article 34 of this Decree-Law get the overtime pay given to the personnel, other than their salaries, employed at the central office of the Prime Ministry according to the similar procedures and principles. 

ARTICLE 32 - Following qualifications in addition to those defined in the Law on Civil Servants No : 657 are required for appointment to the post of Junior Planning Expert;

Foreign language examination result (English, French or German) is also taken into consideration for the appointment. 

Candidates who have failed the examination for the post of Junior Planning Experts twice shall not be given another opportunity.

ARTICLE 33 - According to Article 32, those appointed as Junior Planning Experts are entitled to sit for a vocational proficiency and language examination provided that they have been working for the SPO for at least three years and have good performance appraisal. Candidates who have succeeded in the examination are given the title of "Planning Expert". 

Those who fail the examination of Planning Expert twice will lose the title of Junior Planning Expert and be appointed to acquired posts as appropriate.

Methods and principles of application of the examinations of junior planning experts and planning experts and the duration, principles and procedures concerning the degrees of experts are defined by a regulation.

ARTICLE 34 - Civil servants working for general and annexed budget institutions, revolving fund institutions, State Economic Enterprises and their affiliated institutions may be employed at the Undersecretariat of the State Planning Organization on contract basis provided that their situation is appropriate for the regulation and that their institutions give assent. Priority shall be given to the Undersecretariat on this matter. These personnel are regarded as to have taken unpaid leave from their institutions. Their personal rights during this period continue. They shall be considered as working in their own institutions regarding their promotion and retirement. They are promoted on time without any procedure.

Moreover, personnel working at the institutions defined in the first paragraph may be employed at the Undersecretariat of State Planning Organization on temporary basis on condition that their salaries, allowances, all types of increments and fringe benefits paid by their own institutions. Requests of the Undersecretariat of the SPO on this matter shall be given priority.

ARTICLE 35 - Academic personnel may be employed for tasks requiring expertise at the Undersecretariat of the State Planning Organization according to Article 38 of the Law on Higher Education No : 2547 within the principles of the regulation.

ARTICLE 36 - The State Planning Organization may charge domestic and foreign natural and legal persons with research, survey and projects, and the organization of international bilateral and multilateral contacts and meetings and the provision of all sorts of goods and services related to them by way of contract or bargaining, and may purchase goods and services related to these matters. 

Provisions of the State Tender Law No : 2886 are not applicable to this subject.

ARTICLE 37 - The Undersecretariat of the State Planning Organization may send its personnel abroad for training in their fields of specialization without being subject to the restrictions of Law No : 657

Rules and regulations pertaining to this procedure shall be prepared by the Undersecretariat. 

ARTICLE 38 - Civil Servants other than those employed under the provisions of the Law No : 2451 dated 23.4.1981 are appointed by the Prime Minister or the relevant Minister. However, the Prime Minister or the Minister may delegate a certain part of the authority to appoint to the Undersecretary. 

In order to be appointed to foreign posts permanently, SPO staff must have officially worked for the Undersecretariat for at least five years. 

Principles regarding this procedure are to be determined upon preparation of rules and regulations by the Undersecretariat. 

ARTICLE 39 - The determination, creation, utilization and annulment of the posts and other matters related to the posts are defined in accordance with the provision of the Decree-Law on General Posts and Procedure, No : 190. 

ADDITIONAL ARTICLE 1 - The State Planning Organization Planning Expert has been added to Table (2) of the Law on Appointment Procedure on Ministries and Affiliated Organizations No : 2451. 

PROVISIONAL ARTICLE 1 - Posts in Table (1) of the section for the Undersecretariat of the State Planning Organization of the Decree-Law No : 190 have been abolished. Posts placed in Table (1) and Table (2) have been created and added to the Table (1) of the section for the Undersecretariat of the State Planning Organization of the Decree-Law No : 190.

PROVISIONAL ARTICLE 2 - The personnel whose posts and titles have not changed with the new reorganization made by this Decree-Law are assumed to be appointed to their new posts.

The personnel whose posts and titles have changed or abolished are entrusted with appropriate tasks until they are appointed to their new posts, and their salaries, additional benefits and all types of rights concerning their previous posts are retained for them as long as they stay on their duty.

Contracts of those who are employed on contract basis continue.

PROVISIONAL ARTICLE 3 - Until the amendments envisaged by this Decree-Law enter into force, provisions of existing legislation which are not contrary to this Decree-Law will continue to be implemented. These amendmends are to be put into force within six months.

PROVISIONAL ARTICLE 4 - Until new arrangements are made according to this Decree-Law, tasks given to units reorganized or newly established in SPO are carried out by the units which have previously executed them. The Undersecretariat makes amendments for the structure and posts as stipulated in the Decree-Law within six months at the latest.

PROVISIONAL ARTICLE 5 - When this Decree-Law enters into force, SPO staff who have been employed for at least six years in tasks requiring expertise upon graduation from four-year higher education institutions or from equivalent higher education institutions located abroad, are entitled to sit for the first examination to be opened for Planning Expert. Those who have been employed for less than six years, the examination for Junior Experts without being subject to age limit. This right may be exercised only twice. 

Those who succeed in the examinations shall be appointed to the posts of Planning Expert and Junior Planning Expert. Therefore, these personnel are presumed to fulfill the examination requirements in the Law No : 657.

PROVISIONAL ARTICLE 6 - When this Decree-Law enters into force, the personnel employed at the Undersecretariat on contract basis not corresponding to a post in accordance with Article 4 and Article 8 of the Law No : 933 at the Undersecretariat shall also be entitled to overtime pay stated in the fourth paragraph of Article 31.

ARTICLE 40 - This Decree-Law enters into force on the date of publication. 

ARTICLE 41 - Provisions of this Decree-Law are to be executed by the Council of Ministers.