ARTICLE
6 November 2024

Amendments To The Consumer Protection Law And E-Commerce Law

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Gun + Partners

Contributor

Gün + Partners is a full-service institutional law firm with a strategic international vision, providing transactional, advisory and dispute resolution services since 1986. The Firm is based in Istanbul, with working offices Ankara and Izmir. The Firm advises in life sciences, energy, construction & real estate, technology, media and telecoms, automotive, FMCG, chemicals and the defence industries.”
The Law No. 7529 on Amendments to the Consumer Protection Law and Certain Other Laws was published in the Official Gazette dated 30 October 2024 and numbered 32707.
Turkey Consumer Protection

The Law No. 7529 on Amendments to the Consumer Protection Law and Certain Other Laws was published in the Official Gazette dated 30 October 2024 and numbered 32707. The law introduced amendments particularly to the direct sales provisions and administrative fines ruled by the Consumer Protection Law, as well as to the E-Commerce Law. Some amendments took immediate effect upon its publication date, while others will come into force later.

Key Amendments to the Consumer Protection Law:

  • It has been ruled to allow consumer loan agreements and housing finance agreements to be valid when concluded remotely.
  • Direct sales procedures and principles have been further detailed in a new article, clarifying the rights and obligations of the parties involved. Sanctions for violations of this article have also been established in a new clause. These provisions will come into effect on 30 July 2025.
  • Minimum and maximum limits have been set for administrative fines imposed for violations of rules related with commercial advertisements. Accordingly, the lowest administrative fine has been revised to TRY 60,000, and the highest to TRY 22,100,000, depending on the medium in which the violation occurs.
  • The Advertisement Board will consider factors such as the unfairness of the violation, the benefit gained or harm caused by the violation, and the fault and economic status of the violator when applying minimum and maximum limits. In this context, the Advertisement Board's authority to impose administrative fines up to 10 times higher in cases of repeated violations within one year has been revoked.
  • The clause exluding the administrative fines of the Advertisement Board from the scope of reconciliation with the Ministry has been repealed and the possibility to apply for reconciliation with the Ministry regarding administrative fines imposed by the Advertisement Board has been provided. In this context, if the recipient of the fine claims that the identified violations resulted from an insufficient understanding of the law's provisions or a misinterpretation of those provisions, or if there is a difference of opinion between judicial decisions and the administration regarding the disputed case, the Ministry may reach a reconciliation with the recipient of the administrative fine upon application.

Key Amendments to the E-Commerce Law:

  • A series of new supportive regulations regarding the calculation of license fees have been introduced to enhance the competitiveness of domestic marketplaces against foreign-based marketplaces, increase employment levels, and accelerate export growth to encourage more businesses to engage in exports.

Evaluations

The establishment of minimum and maximum limits for administrative fines imposed by the Advertisement Board and the significant increase in these fines in the Consumer Protection Law aim to ensure the effectiveness of oversight, prevent consumer deception and exploitation, and serve the public interest. Similarly, administrative fines related to violations of provisions concerning commercial advertisements and unfair commercial practices have been included under reconciliation provisions to reduce the public costs arising from litigation processes resulting from these administrative actions and to ensure a swift and decisive resolution of violations and proceedings. It is assessed that the amendments will increase the deterrence of violations regarding commercial advertisements and unfair commercial practices and the effectiveness of the Advertisement Board will increase due to the speed provided by the reconciliation procedure.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.

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