INTRODUCTION AND SCOPE OF THE NEW REGULATIONS
As it is known, the concept of "Commerce" in today's sense has moved from its classical physical form to the internet environment and has required the introduction of various and detailed legal regulations in terms of sellers, buyers and platforms that mediate this relationship by choosing one of the Business to Business ("B2B"), Business to Consumer ("B2C"), Consumer to Consumer ("C2C") and Consumer to Business ("C2B") business models by operating in this electronic environment. The "Law on the Regulation of Electronic Commerce ("Electronic Commerce Law")" was published in the Official Gazette dated November 5, 2014 and numbered 29166 to enter into force on 01.05.2015, as it is of great importance to determine the legal and commercial conditions regarding the commodities to be sold and to prevent potential disputes that may arise between sellers – buyers and intermediary platforms.
However, due to the rapid change in today's commercial conditions, the increasing importance of e-commerce, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic, and the acceleration of digital transformation processes, it has had to be updated in terms of seller-buyer and intermediary platforms. In this respect, the "Law on the Amendment of the Law on the Regulation of Electronic Commerce ("Amendment Law")" published in the Official Gazette dated 07.07.2022 and numbered 31889 introduced various rules and obligations for the parties to the purchase and sale transactions carried out within the scope of e-commerce. At this point, to make the transition process easier and more applicable for all parties to e-commerce, the legislator has envisaged that some of the provisions will enter into force as of 01.01.2023 and some of the provisions will enter into force as of 01.01.2024, and in this way, all parties that will be involved in the e-commerce process have been given a plausible time to comply with the obligations imposed and to fulfill the compliance processes with the legislation.
, the "Regulation on Electronic Commerce Intermediary Service Providers and Electronic Commerce Service Providers ("Regulation")", some of which includes provisions that will enter into force partly on 01.01.2023 and partly on 01.01.2024,, was published in the Official Gazette dated 29.12.2022 and numbered 32058 and it has revoked the "Regulation on Electronic Commerce Service Providers and Intermediary Service Providers" was published in the Official Gazette dated 06.08.2015 and numbered 29457.With this Regulation new and much more clarifying regulations have been introduced to regulate the activities and audits of "Electronic Commerce Intermediary Service Providers" and "Electronic Commerce Service Providers" and the commercial relations between them, ..
In this context, the Amendment Law and the Regulation are particularly important in terms of the supply of goods and services to be carried out in the e-commerce environment, and it is important for those concerned to act in accordance with the obligations and rules set out in the Amendment Law and the Regulation in order not to face with any administrative and/or legal sanctions. Thus, the parties to the transaction subject to e-commerce who do not comply with these obligations and rules may be subject to administrative sanctions and various legal processes due to their failure to comply with the relevant obligations and rules.
WHAT DID THE AMENDMENTS BRING REGARDING ELECTRONIC COMMERCE?
Regarding the Law Amending the Law on the Regulation of Electronic Commerce;
The Amendment Law first led to the addition of new definitions to the Electronic Commerce Law and enabled the inclusion of the concepts of "Electronic Commerce Intermediary Service Provider" and "Electronic Commerce Service Provider", which were missing in the concepts of e-commerce and became one of the main and focal points of e-commerce with the impact of digital transformation. In this context, these concepts introduced in the Amendment Law;
- Electronic Commerce Intermediary Service Provider ("ECISP") ?? It can be defined as an intermediate structure that enables the purchase of goods or services of e-commerce service providers by acting as an intermediary institution in the e-commerce marketplace.
- Electronic Commerce Service Provider ("ECSP")?? E-commerce can be defined as the main structure that makes contracts or takes orders for the supply of goods or services in the marketplace or its own e-commerce environment.
The Amendment Law also introduced some additional obligations for ECISPs. In this context, if the ECISPs are aware of the unlawfulness of the content offered in the transactions intended to be realized through the ECSP through its e-commerce platform, they are obliged to immediately remove this content for a period not exceeding forty-eight hours and to notify the relevant institutions of this matter. In addition, in terms of intellectual property law, the ECISPs are also obliged to immediately remove the product of the ECISPS subject to the complaint from publication upon the complaint of the right holder regarding the infringement of intellectual and industrial property rights, for a period not exceeding forty-eight hours. In this case, the ECISPs will be able to reissue the product subject to the complaint by submitting the documents showing the contrary of the complaint to the ECSPs in a reasoned manner.
Another amendment introduced is the amendment regarding the nature of unfair commercial practices to be carried out by ECISPs. Accordingly, Article 11 of the Amendment Law stipulates that any practice that significantly disrupts the commercial activities of the ECSPs to which the ECISP provides intermediation services, reduces their ability to make reasonable decisions, or forces them to take a certain decision, causing them to become a party to a commercial relationship to which they would not normally be a party, shall be considered as unfair commercial practices, and various examples of unfair commercial practices are listed in the rest of the article.
Through the examples provided by the Amendment Law, it is understood that the Amendment Law aims to reduce the power of the ECISPs over the ECSPs and to increase the ability of the ECISPs to participate in e-commerce life and continue their activities in line with their own will, which has already increased in line with various factors such as the increasing demand due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the user-friendliness and practicality of e-commerce applications , the variety of products and the availability of affordable prices. Again, with the Amendment Law, ECISPSs will not be able to offer for sale or intermediate in the sale of goods bearing the trademark or the right to use the trademark of itself or the persons with whom it has economic integrity in the e-commerce marketplaces where intermediation services are provided.
Another obligation stipulated by the Amending Law is the obligation to obtain a license for ECISPs and ECSPs. Accordingly, depending on the net transaction volume, for ECISPs, ECISPs whose net transaction volume in a calendar year exceeds ten billion Turkish liras and whose number of transactions excluding cancellations and returns exceeds one hundred thousand transactions are required to apply to the Ministry of Commerce, pay the license fee in proportion to the net transaction volume thresholds determined in different amounts within the Amendment Law and obtain the license from the Ministry of Commerce within this scope. The amendment also specifies the timing of license applications, which must be made in March of the calendar year following the date on which the limits were exceeded. In addition, the amendment also specifies how to determine whether the thresholds have been exceeded. Accordingly, the net trading volumes and number of transactions of ECISPs within the economic integrity will be taken into account in this determination.
It should also be noted that the Amending Law imposes additional obligations on ECISPs according to their threshold ratios.As explained above, in addition to the general obligations of ECISPs regarding unfair commercial activity, license obligation and unlawful content, the Amendment Law stipulates that ECISPs whose net transaction volume in a calendar year is over ten billion Turkish liras;
- Use the data it obtains only for brokerage purposes and not to compete with ECSPs in the e-commerce marketplaces where the brokerage service is provided
- Providing technical means for the free transportation of the data obtained by the ECSPs within the scope of the sales they have realized and providing effective access to this data and the processed data,
- Not providing access between their own e-commerce environments and not promoting each other in these environments,
- Procedures for the detection of issues contrary to the legislation regarding the content provided by the ECSP and notification of the contraventions detected as a result of this to the Ministry
is required. In addition to the above obligations, ECISPs whose net trading volume in a calendar year is above thirty billion Turkish liras and the number of transactions excluding cancellations and returns is above one hundred thousand;
a.Limitations on their advertising expenditures,
- Limitations on promotions, awards, points, vouchers, gift vouchers and similar opportunities,
- limitations on the ability of ECSPs to restrict the offering of goods or services or advertising through alternative channels at the same or different prices, and rules on the ability to compel the provision of goods or services from any person
to comply with the law. Finally, with the amendment to the Law, ECISPs whose net transaction volume in a calendar year exceeds sixty billion Turkish liras and the number of transactions, excluding cancellations and returns, exceeds one hundred thousand transactions are subject to the above-mentioned obligations;
a.They will not enable financial institutions to engage in activities related to the realization of all kinds of services they offer, including lending transactions,
- Not enabling the acceptance of electronic currencies issued by electronic money institutions in the marketplaces where intermediary services are provided and not providing services falling under the limited network exception
obligation has been introduced.
In terms of the Regulation on Electronic Commerce Intermediary Service Providers and Electronic Commerce Service Providers;
The obligations foreseen for ECISPs and ECSPs are also detailed in the Regulation published to elaborate and implement all the above-mentioned issues and to prevent problems that may arise in practice. Accordingly, in addition to the Amendment Law in terms of unlawful content, provisions have been introduced regarding when it is deemed to be aware of the unlawful content, and it is regulated that ECISPs will be deemed to be aware of the unlawful content if the Ministry or other public institutions notify them of the unlawful content, as well as if the ECISPs themselves determine this unlawfulness and the judicial authorities notify them of the unlawful element.
Again, the provision on unfair commercial practices regulated under the Amendment Law has been elaborated and the situations listed in the provision have been diversified the situations that will be deemed as unfair commercial practices include the determination of the right of withdrawal periods by the ECISP, without the prior approval of the ECSP, exceeding the periods specified in the Law No. 6502 dated 07.11.2013 on the Protection of Consumers and the making of untrue or misleading statements and notifications by the ECISP to ECSPs about its products and activities. The Regulation expands the scope of the prohibition by stipulating that large and very large-scale ECISP, ECSP cannot be restricted from commercial relations, from offering goods or services at the same or different prices through alternative channels, or from advertising, cannot be forced to procure goods or services from any person and cannot include such provisions in contracts.
The Regulation also regulates the obligation to provide information regarding ECSPs and ECISPs and obliges ECSPs and ECISPs to fill in the fields allocated to them completely. In addition, ECSPs selling on e-commerce marketplaces are obliged to notify the ECISP of their headquarters address, e-mail address and telephone number, and to make updates and notify the ECISP by the end of the day following the date of the change.
CONCLUSION
Consequently, when the Amending Law and the Regulation are analyzed together, it can be seen that the Amending Law and the Regulation contain various and detailed regulations, especially in terms of ECISPs and ECSPs, and that these regulations aim to limit the power of ECISPs, which have become quite powerful in today's e-commerce ecosystem, by subjecting them to certain limits. Therefore, it is important for ECISPs and ECSPs to review their behaviors that may potentially be in violation of these regulations and to bring themselves and their organizational structures into compliance with the legislation to avoid any administrative and/or legal sanctions.
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.