Turkey’s Ministry of Commerce has brought significant amendments to the Regulation on After-Sales Services published in the Official Gazette dated 13 June 2014 numbered 29029 (“Regulation”) with the Regulation published in the Official Gazette dated 12 February 2020 numbered 31037 (“Amendment Regulation”). Amendments shall enter into force on 1 July 2020.
Amendments and new rules are as follows:
- Validity period (2 years) of compliance certificates remain the same, but now they will need to be renewed before their expiration date.
- The period to notify the Ministry about changes regarding manufacturer’s or importer’s authorized services has increased up to 30 days. This term was determined as 15 days in the former regulation.
- The authorized services which are established above the number determined by the Regulation and not required to be notified to the Ministry, became subject to the Amendment Regulation as well.
- If the manufacturer or importer has a phone line devoted to consumer communication regarding after-sales services, in this case they will not be able to charge communication fees exceeding ordinary rates.
- Once the repair service is provided at the location where the good is being used, service stations are no longer required to issue documents about their receipt of the defected good.
- Except for out-of-service use, manufacturer, importer or seller can no longer within the warranty period request the consumer to pay transportation, courier or postal fees.
- If manufacturer or importer has a website, as of effective date of the Amendment Regulation, they are required to post up-to-date contact information of all their authorized service stations on their website.
- A new online platform is being established, named Service Information System (SERBİS). Manufacturers and importers will enter accurate and complete information regarding all their authorized services onto this website within 30 days following effective date of the amendments, and they will update the data in case of any change.
- New products are added to the list annexed to the Amendment Regulation, which means after-sales services will be required for more goods.
The full text of the Amendment Regulation and the list annexed thereto is available at this link (only available in Turkish).
