Novel Amendments on Consumer Protection and E-Commerce Legislations

On October 30, 2024, the Law Amending the Consumer Protection Law and Other Laws (“Amending Law”) was published on the Official Gazette, introducing significant changes regarding sanctions on advertisements and e-commerce license fees. Accordingly, the key points of the amendments are detailed below.

Amendments on the Consumer Protection Law No. 6502

Expansion of the Scope of Distance Sales

As of October 30, 2024, (i) consumer credit agreements and (ii) housing financing agreements may now be executed remotely as distance contracts, in addition to in-person contracts.

Introduction of Novel Rules on Direct Sales Systems

The Amending Law introduced detailed novel rules concerning direct sales systems, which are defined as a system in which direct sellers, who are not employed by a direct sales company under an employment contract, market goods or services to consumers, by operating under the names of independent representatives, distributors, consultants and similar names in return for benefits such as commissions, premiums, incentives and rewards. Accordingly, as of July 30, 2025, the Amending Law foresees the following rules on direct sales systems:

• Direct sales companies must be established as a capital company and meet specific regulatory requirements, namely, the secondary legislation.
• Direct sales systems’ income should not be established on the basis of bringing new direct sellers into the system and distributing the benefits arising therefrom; but rather focus on the sale of goods or services to consumers and must comply with other principles determined by secondary legislation.
• It is prohibited to receive any fees or debt-incurring documents under the names of renewal, package, fee, dues and others that do not include the goods/services foreseen to be sold to the consumer in order for direct sellers to be included/remained in the system.
• The purchase of goods/services in the quantity or amount determined by the direct sales company shall not determine the level of the direct seller within the system.
• Consumers are granted the right to withdraw from products/services purchased through direct sales within 30 days without providing any reason or paying a penalty fee.
• Direct sales companies are obliged to establish systems to inform consumers about their rights and obligations and to enable them to forward their requests and notifications.

In addition to those above, the Amending Law underlines that (i) the rights and obligations of direct sales companies, direct sellers and consumers, (ii) the scope of such contracts, (iii) the issues related to the sale of goods or services, (iv) details on the right of withdrawal, information obligation and delivery and (v) other implementation procedures and principles shall be determined by a secondary legislation.

Lastly, new additional provisions are included in the legislation (i) to regulate the administrative fines for those who violate the above-mentioned rules related to the direct sales system, and (ii) to set out that Turkish Criminal Code shall apply to those who initiate, organize or disseminate a pyramid sales system or who support the dissemination of such system for commercial purposes.

Increased Administrative Fines for Advertising Practices

Depending on the nature of the violation, the Advertisement Board has the authority to impose administrative fines to the advertisers, advertising agencies and media organizations, for violating the advertising rules determined under Consumer Protection Law No. 6502. The Amending Law introduces minimum-maximum limits for the following administrative fines, as opposed to fixed fine amounts, which are regulated to be in effect as of July 30, 2025:

One important note is that with the amendments, it is now have been clarified in the legislation that while imposing the administrative fines the Advertisement Board will take into account factors such as the degree of unfairness involved in the violation, the benefit gained or the extent of harm caused, as well as the violator’s liability and economic situation.

In addition, the administrative fines to be applied in the event of a practice that constitutes unfair commercial practice (such as dark patterns), were changed from TRY 54.987 (approx. EUR 1474) to TRY 60.000 up to TRY 600.000 (approx. EUR 1608 up to 16,089). Administrative fines for unfair commercial practices occurring country-wide were changed from TRY 550.059 (approx. EUR 14,749) ?to TRY 600.000 up to TRY 6.000.000 (approx. EUR 16,089 up to 160,890).

Amendments on the Law No. 6563 on the Regulation of Electronic Commerce

The Amending Law has introduced the following novel criteria for the determination of e-commerce license fee within the scope of Law No. 6563 on the Regulation of Electronic Commerce (“E-Commerce Law”):

a.?Sales made by electronic commerce intermediary service providers (“ISP”) to foreign markets will not be taken into account while calculating the license fee (this criterion was regulated before).

b.?Provided that the net transaction volume of ISP is not more than 20% of the sum of the net transaction volumes of the ISP and electronic commerce service providers, which is calculated using ETBIS data (in the determination of such threshold, overruns below 15% shall not be taken into account):

• Twice the amount of the foreign market sales in the following calendar year shall be deducted from the net transaction volume for that calendar year.
• Twice the amount of investment expenditure realized by obtaining an investment incentive certificate from the Ministry of Industry and Technology, in accordance with the legislation on supporting investments on a project basis, shall be deducted from the net transaction volume for that calendar year.

The Amending Law further establishes discounts in the calculation of license fees for the years 2024 and 2025, where the four times (for 2024) and five times (for 2025) the amounts aforementioned under Criteria (b) are deducted from the net transaction volume of the ISP.

?Authors: Hatice Ekici Ta?a , Sümeyye U?ar , Begüm Alara ?ahinkaya , Ceren Ely?ld?r?m , Hatice Sahranc

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