Arbitration Process in Traffic Accidents

Law No. 5684 on Insurance Law was the first to regulate the arbitration system in insurance law in Türkiye. This system aims to resolve disputes between insured parties and insurance companies in a fast, fair, simple, and cost-effective way. Regulations and circulars such as the Regulation on Arbitration in Insurance and the Circular on Insurance Arbitration Procedure and Insurance Arbitrators are in force in Türkiye regarding arbitration. This arbitration system aims to prevent loss of rights for insured parties and therefore increases confidence in the insurance system. Applications to the arbitration system are increasing every day, and it is believed that this system has achieved its purpose in Turkish insurance law. In insurance law, arbitration is a method used to resolve insurance contract or account disputes between insured parties and insurance companies, and according to Article 23 of the Turkish Commercial Code No. 6102, an insurance contract is a mutual agreement between an insurance company and the insured. An insurance contract is an agreement in which the insurance company undertakes to compensate for or otherwise perform damages if a risk causes a monetary benefit to be lost at the time the risk occurs. Arbitration can also be used in disputes between individuals benefiting from the Guarantee Fund and the Fund itself. The Guarantee Fund is an institution related to the guarantees provided by compulsory insurance and was established to compensate the injured party for the damages they may suffer. The Insurance Arbitration Commission is an organization consisting of the Insurance Arbitration Commission Presidency and other employees. The Commission Presidency is composed of a representative from the Undersecretariat, two Union representatives, a consumer association representative, and an academic lawyer representative determined by the Undersecretariat. The Commission's duties include preparing the Commission's budget to be submitted to the Union, taking necessary measures for the fair, impartial, and effective functioning of the arbitration system, preparing and sending annual reports to the Union and the Undersecretariat, preparing the information processing infrastructure, and other duties assigned to it by law. Individuals experiencing disputes with insurance companies should apply to the Commission for the resolution of their disputes. The Commission attempts to resolve disputes through arbitrators selected from a list of arbitrators. The Commission's arbitrators are also considered a secretariat supporting institution. For an application to be submitted to the Commission, the risk in question must have occurred after the date the insurance company became a member of the arbitration system. Applications relating to risks that occurred before the membership date will not be considered by the Commission. An application fee is paid when applying to the Commission. This fee varies depending on the amount of the dispute

• For disputes of 5,000 TL or less, the application fee is 150 TL.
• For disputes between 5,001 and 10,000 TL, the application fee is 350 TL.
• For disputes between 10,001 and 30,000 TL, the application fee is 500 TL.
• For disputes of 30,001 TL and above, the application fee is 1.5% of the dispute amount.

In disputes subject to arbitration, unless the parties agree otherwise, the provisions of Turkish substantive law shall be applied by the arbitrator. However, even if the parties agree otherwise, the mandatory provisions of the law shall be applied by the arbitrator. Arbitrators make decisions based on the files and documents provided. However, there is no obstacle to arbitrators holding hearings. In practice, hearings are usually held. According to Article 16, paragraph 12 of the Regulation on Arbitration in Insurance, the arbitrator or arbitration board may decide, upon the request of one of the parties or on its own initiative, to obtain the opinion and views of an expert witness in cases requiring specialized or technical knowledge outside of law. Expert witnesses are selected by the Commission Director from the list of experts prepared within the framework of the principles determined by the Undersecretariat.