Draft Law on the Amendment of the Law on the Protection of Consumers and Certain Laws Submitted to the Presidency of Grand National Assembly of Türkiye

On July 18, 2024,  Draft Law on the Amendment of the Law on the Protection of Consumers and Certain Laws (“Draft Law“) was submitted to the Presidency of the Turkish Grand National Assembly (TBMM). In summary, Draft Law aims to  to regulate both the revenue structure of institutions and to regulate consumer rights and electronic commerce.

• According to the Draft Law,  the sources of income of the Turkish Energy, Nuclear and Mining Research Organization will consist of aids from the general budget, revenues from the activities of the organization, publication revenues, revenues from movable and immovable properties, revenues transferred from enterprises and companies, fees paid for radioactive waste management, revenues from intellectual and industrial property rights, all kinds of aids, donations and bequests and other revenues. Unspent revenues will be transferred to the following year.
• The additional salaries to be paid to the personnel and faculty members temporarily assigned to the Turkish Energy, Nuclear and Mining Research Organization shall be determined by the President and no deductions shall be made from these payments except for stamp tax. The  Turkish Energy, Nuclear and Mining Research Organization may grant awards and scholarships to train human resources.
• Law No. 6502 on the Protection of Consumers stipulates that the term “written” shall also apply to distance contracts. In addition, it is stipulated that consumer loan agreements between lenders and consumers may be concluded in distance as well as in writing.
• New regulations on the direct selling system have been added. This system is based on independent representatives selling goods or services to consumers and the direct sales company must be a capital company. In the direct sales system, consumers are given the right to withdraw from the contract within 30 days. The conditions for the sale of goods or services in the direct sales system and the right of withdrawal will be regulated by regulation.
• Administrative fines to be imposed for advertising violations have been increased and it is stated that the unfair content of the violation, the size of the benefit obtained and the economic status of the violator will be taken into account in determining these fines.
• The sales made abroad by electronic commerce intermediary service providers will not be taken into account in the calculation of the license fee.  In the calculation of the license fee, provided that the net transaction volume of the electronic commerce intermediary service provider is not more than 20% of the total net transaction volume calculated using ETBIS data, the amount of sales made abroad in the following calendar year and twice the investment expenditure made by obtaining an investment incentive certificate will be deducted from the net transaction volume of that year. In addition, regulations have been introduced for the years 2024 and 2025: For the year 2024, the 20% limit will not be sought and four times the specified amounts will be deducted from the net transaction volume. For 2025, three times these amounts will be deducted from the net transaction volume.

You can access the full text of the Draft Law through this link (only available in Turkish).