The Regulation on the Electronic Commerce Intermediary Service
Providers and Electronic Commerce Service Providers
("Regulation") has been published in the
Official Gazette dated 29 December 2022 and numbered 32058 by the
Ministry of Trade.
The Regulation regulates the obligations of electronic
commerce intermediary service providers and electronic commerce
service providers, unfair commercial practices in electronic
commerce, unlawful content, intermediation agreements, electronic
commerce license and other issues related to electronic
commerce.
With the Regulation, the Regulation on Service Providers and
Intermediary Service Providers in Electronic Commerce published in
the Official Gazette dated 26.8.2015 and numbered 29457 has been
repealed.
The Regulation defines an electronic commerce service provider
as "a service provider which concludes contracts or takes
orders for the supply of goods or services in an electronic
commerce marketplace or in its own electronic commerce
environment." Electronic commerce intermediary service
provider on the other hand, is defined as "an intermediary
service provider which enables the conclusion of contracts or
placing orders for the supply of goods or services of electronic
commerce service providers in the electronic commerce
marketplace."
Unlike Law No. 6563 on the Regulation of Electronic Commerce,
both electronic commerce intermediary service providers and
electronic commerce service providers are classified as medium,
large, or very large-scale according to their net transaction
volumes in a calendar year.
Electronic commerce intermediary service providers with a net
trading volume of more than ten billion Turkish liras in a calendar
year are considered to be medium-scale, while electronic commerce
intermediary service providers with a net trading volume of more
than ten billion Turkish liras in a calendar year and have more
than ten million transactions excluding cancellations and returns
are considered to be medium-scale.
Electronic commerce intermediary service providers are
considered large-scale if their net trading volume in a calendar
year is above thirty billion Turkish liras while having over one
hundred thousand transactions – excluding cancellations and
returns – as well as fulfilling the obligations set forth in
the Regulation for medium-sized electronic commerce intermediary
service providers. Meanwhile, electronic commerce intermediary
service providers with a net trading volume of more than sixty
billion Turkish liras and more than one hundred thousand
transactions excluding cancellations and returns in a calendar
year, as well as those that fulfill the obligations set forth in
the Regulation for medium and large electronic commerce
intermediary service providers, are considered very
large-scale.
Electronic commerce service providers are considered
large-scale if their net transaction volume in a calendar year
exceeds thirty billion Turkish liras and the number of
transactions, excluding cancellations and returns, exceeds ten
million, and if they also fulfill the obligations set forth for
medium-sized electronic commerce service providers in the
Regulation.
Electronic commerce service providers are considered to be
very large scaled if their net trading volume in a calendar year
exceeds sixty billion Turkish liras and the number of transactions,
excluding cancellations and returns, exceeds ten million, and if
they fulfill the obligations set forth in the Regulation for medium
and large electronic commerce service providers.
An obligation to provide information is imposed on electronic
commerce service providers, and they are required to provide the
following information under the heading "contact" on the
home page of their electronic commerce environment in a directly
accessible manner:
- Trade name, MERSIS number and headquarters address for
merchants; name and surname, tax identification number and
headquarters address for artisans and craftsmen.
- KEP address, e-mail address, telephone number, business name
and registered trademark, if any.
- Information on the professional chamber of which it is a
member, the code of conduct related to the profession and how these
can be accessed electronically.
Electronic commerce intermediary service providers are also
obliged to provide the same information under the heading
"contact" on the home page of the electronic commerce
marketplace in a directly accessible manner. In addition,
electronic commerce intermediary service providers are prohibited
to provide intermediation services to an electronic commerce
service providers whose identifying information they have not
verified, and they must ensure that the identifying information of
the electronic commerce service providers to which they provide
intermediation services to is up to date.
In addition to this, electronic commerce intermediary service
providers and electronic commerce service providers which realize
sales on their own electronic environment are obliged to have a
"transaction guide" that contains information on issues
such as delivery, payment, selection of goods and services on the
home page of the electronic commerce environment in a way that can
be accessed directly.
Electronic commerce intermediary service providers must
designate at least one natural or legal person as a point of
contact to enable public institutions and organizations to
communicate through and notify the Ministry of Trade of said
person's contact information through ETBIS.
If the electronic commerce intermediary service provider
becomes aware that the content provided by the electronic commerce
service providers is unlawful, a time limit of 48 hours has been
set for the electronic commerce intermediary service provider to
remove the content from publication and notify the electronic
commerce service provider and the relevant public institutions and
organizations of the unlawfulness providing the reasons.
The Regulation also prohibits unfair commercial practices that
significantly disrupt the commercial activities of the electronic
commerce service providers for which the electronic commerce
intermediary service providers provide intermediation services for,
reduces its ability to make a reasonable decision or forces the
electronic commerce service provider to take a certain decision,
causing it to become a party to a commercial relationship to which
it would not normally be a party of. Some of the situations that
are considered as unfair commercial practices in all cases in the
Regulation are as follows:
- Failure to make the payment required to be made to the
electronic commerce service providers for the sale of goods or
services in full within five business days from the date on which
the product sales price enters the disposal of electronic commerce
intermediary service providers and the order reaches the
buyer.
- Forcing the electronic commerce service providers to sell
promotional goods or services, including unilateral changes to the
sales price by electronic commerce intermediary service
providers.
- Charging a fee to an electronic commerce service provider
even though no service is provided, or the type of service
provided, and the amount or rate of the service fee are not
specified in the intermediation agreement.
The Regulation stipulates that the conditions of the
commercial relationship between electronic commerce intermediary
service providers and electronic commerce service providers shall
be determined by an intermediation agreement made in writing or
electronically, and the minimum requirements of the intermediation
agreement are specified.
The Regulation also imposes obligations and prohibitions on
medium, large and very large-scale electronic commerce intermediary
service providers and electronic commerce service providers on
issues such as data use and sharing, share transfer notification,
independent audit, payment services, and regulatory compliance
report.
You can access the full Turkish text of the regulation from
the link below.
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.