The Istanbul Governor’s Office (T.C. Istanbul Valiliği) held a meeting on food safety on 20 November.

The purpose of the meeting was to review the measures taken regarding food and accommodation safety in Istanbul and to discuss measures to be taken to prevent the recurrence of recent incidents in this area.

One of the various decisions taken at the meeting was particularly noteworthy. According to this decision, “all businesses in Istanbul are required to record video footage 24 hours a day without interruption and to retain these recordings for 30 days.”

If this becomes an established practice, all relevant businesses may need to set up systems capable of storing these recordings and, of course, they will also be required to take the legal measures necessary in accordance with especially the Personal Data Protection Law regarding this recording process.

It is worth noting that this obligation imposed on businesses under this decision does not affect the occupational health and safety obligations already undertaken by these businesses in any way; on the contrary, this decision emphasizes these health and safety obligations.