Lawyers in the European Union are used to serving documents and requesting evidence across borders under two regulations, with standard forms and uniform language rules. Türkiye is not a Member State, and neither regulation reaches it. A claim issued in Brussels, Paris or Munich against a defendant in Türkiye, or a request to hear a witness in Ankara, goes back to the Hague Conventions, each read together with Türkiye’s own declarations.
What the service regulation says about its reach
Regulation (EU) 2020/1784 concerns the service in the Member States of judicial and extrajudicial documents in civil or commercial matters, and Article 1(1) applies it to the cross-border service of such documents. Article 29(1) gives it priority over bilateral and multilateral agreements, the 1965 Hague Service Convention in particular, but only in relations between the Member States party to them. Recital 48 adds that Denmark is not bound. Nothing in that wording extends the Regulation to a State outside the Union.
What the evidence regulation says
Regulation (EU) 2020/1783 covers requests by a court of a Member State to the competent court of another Member State to take evidence, and the direct taking of evidence in another Member State (Article 1(1)). Its Article 29(1) gives it priority over the 1954 Hague Convention on civil procedure and the 1970 Hague Evidence Convention, again only in relations between the Member States party to them. A witness in Türkiye falls outside both limbs of Article 1(1).
Service from an EU State into Türkiye
Service runs under the 1965 Hague Service Convention through the Directorate General for Foreign Relations and EU Affairs of the Ministry of Justice (DİABGM), Ankara. Documents in Turkish, or with a Turkish translation, can be served under Turkish domestic law even against the addressee’s will; untranslated documents are served only if the addressee accepts them voluntarily. Türkiye objected to all the channels in Article 10, so direct postal service is not a Convention route. For Germany, HCCH also lists the German and Turkish convention of 28 May 1929 among Türkiye’s bilateral agreements.
Evidence from an EU State in Türkiye
For most Member States, evidence is sought under the 1970 Hague Evidence Convention. Türkiye’s Article 33 reservation takes Article 4(2) out of play, so the letter of request is in Turkish or comes with a Turkish translation certified under Article 4(5). Türkiye also declared under Article 23 that it does not execute letters of request for pre-trial discovery of documents.
Belgium: the 1954 Convention still matters
Belgium has not joined the 1970 Convention. Article 29 of the 1970 Convention replaces Articles 8 to 16 of the 1954 Convention only between States party to both, so between Belgium and Türkiye those 1954 articles remain the multilateral basis for letters of request. Under Article 10 of the 1954 Convention, the translation is certified by a diplomatic or consular agent of the requesting State or by a sworn translator of the requested State; the 1970 flexibility of “either State” is absent.
Maintenance and judgments
Child support claims between an EU State and Türkiye run under the 2007 Hague Child Support Convention, to which the European Union has been a party since 2014; it entered into force for Türkiye on 1 February 2017. Türkiye made no declaration under Article 44 accepting another language, so an application to Türkiye goes with a Turkish translation unless the competent Turkish authority dispenses with it. Recognition and enforcement of a judgment from an EU court in Türkiye follow MÖHUK Articles 50 to 59.
What this means for the file
A request that names the EU regulations as its basis in a Türkiye matter rests on instruments that do not apply there, and the forms and language rules it assumes will not match. Acte Tercüme translates documents for the Hague routes into Turkish, and Turkish replies and records into English or French.