The Legal Characteristics of Liability Arising From the Potential Damages for Third Parties due to the Ratings of Rating Agencies

As per the importance of the operations carried out by the rating agencies, some obligations are set forth for these agencies, the breach of which causes their liability. The liability of the rating agencies has basically been regulated in the Communique on Principles Regarding Ratings and Rating Agencies by Capital Market Board. In this context, the third parties can claim their compensation on the grounds of “tortious liability.” However, as there is no legal basis for the article that regulates the liability of the rating agencies in the above mentioned communique, it will be revoked by the court if it will be a subject of a litigation. In this probability, the liability of the rating agencies against third parties will be lack of legal theory and the potential legal gap can only be filled by the judge through creating law until a new regulation will be issued. At this point the judge should rely on the theory of “liability of credibility” as such a conception does not collide with the principles of the positive law rules. This article aims to determine the legal characteristics of the liabilities of the rating agencies against third parties within the framework of the legal views related with the general liability of reporters.