What Are the New E-Commerce Regulations in Digitalized Turkey?

Due to the coronavirus, which has affected the whole world since the beginning of 2020 and caused many balances to change, all works in the traditional media have shifted to digital platforms. E-commerce sites were the platform most affected by this situation.

The Ministry of Commerce also created a draft to create new regulations regarding this situation and opened it to opinions. With this initiative, the government aims to facilitate the work of commercial sites. Since the customer and the manufacturer communicate directly without any intermediaries, the work has become more practical and faster, and an environment of trust has been established. Since there was no intermediary, the problems that occurred became faster and easier to solve firsthand.

Again, pursuant to the draft regulation of the Ministry of Commerce, manufacturers selling through e-commerce will be able to appoint a customer representative and this representative's contact information will be visible in cargo.

Online sales platforms will be exempt from the obligation to investigate whether products sold over the Internet are safe.

Access to objectionable products sold via the Internet will be blocked by the BTK (Information Technologies and Communications Authority), and television advertisements may be requested to be stopped if deemed necessary.

Supervisors will be able to purchase and review products sold online just like a customer.

All platforms that sell online will be obliged to have a service provider established in the country when they sell to Turkey.

If online sales channels do not have a business established in Turkey, they will be asked to supply it. The same rule will apply to foreign online companies.

Companies that market their products and services via the internet will definitely reflect the signs, warnings and information required for these products in their advertisements through visuals. If sales are made over the phone, these notifications will be verbal, and if sales are made via e-mail, they will be stated in writing.

The manufacturer company selling over the internet will be obliged to send an authorized representative.

The representative will submit all kinds of documents, documents and information showing the conformity of the product in question to the supervisory board, according to the request. If a risky product is detected, it will also notify.

If the intermediary platforms detect an inappropriate product, they will have the authority to block access to the content.

The name, trade name, full address, contact information of the representative company will be included in the product's packaging, parcel or documents to be sent.

Large sites that offer e-commerce opportunities such as Hepsiburada, N11, Gittigidiyor will not have to check the content created by companies or individuals using their own platforms, and to investigate whether these products are safe and comply with the legislation.

The Ministry will be able to remove companies that violate the rules from their sales platforms.

Authorized inspection institutions will have the right to sanction and inspect the products sold via telephone and internet channels.

The same inspection organizations will have the authority to take samples from all products sold on the internet and similar environments, and will be able to request information from companies on the subject.

The introduction of non-trustworthy products on international platforms into the Turkish market will be prevented.

If a warning has been made about an objectionable product by the inspection institutions and this warning has not been taken into account by the banned company, the inspection institutions will be able to apply to the BTK, that is, the Information Technologies and Communication Authority, and have the content removed.

Trends will be followed with the Support and Information System of the Center for Market Surveillance and Control of Electronic Commerce, created by the government. In this way, necessary inspections and scans will be made and any violations will be detected.

Thanks to these inspections, trends, highlights, trends, forums, consumer complaints, and areas that are likely to be risky and advantageous in the future E-commerce environment will be controlled.

Thanks to all these arrangements, both customers, entrepreneurs and manufacturers will be able to shop and trade in a more disciplined and comfortable area.