Important amendments are made in the Law on Regulation of Retail Trade numbered 6585 ("Law No. 6585") through the Law No. 7244 Amending the Certain Laws to Minimize the Economic and Social Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic ("Law") which is published in the Official Gazette dated 17 April 2020 and numbered 31102. The principal issues regarding the amendments are summarized below.
Additional Article 1 titled "Excessive Price Increase, Stocking and Unfair Price Evaluation Board" was added to the Law No. 6585 with the Article 14 of the Law.
Within the scope of Additional Article 1, the following has been set forth:
- Manufacturers, suppliers and retail businesses shall not issue excessive increase in the sales price of goods or services.
- Manufacturers, suppliers and retail businesses shall not conduct activities that result tightness in the market or disruption of the market balance and free competition and prevent the consumer from reaching the goods.
According to Additional Article 1, it was decided to establish an Unfair Price Evaluation Board in order to make regulations for excessive price increases and stockpiling practices of manufacturers, suppliers and retail businesses, to impose administrative fines by making inspections and examinations when necessary, and to take all kinds of measures.
With Article 13 of the Law, Clause (ı) was added to Article 18 Law No. 6585 and the administrative penalties to be imposed in case of violation of the Additional Article 1 was determined. It was regulated that Unfair Price Evaluation Board will be the authority to impose the administrative penalties.
Article 13 and 14 of the Law was entered into force on 17 April 2020.
You may access the full text of the Law's Turkish versionhere.
Originally published 17 April, 2020
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