To send commercial electronic messages in Turkey, senders must first obtain a recipient’s approval. The Ministry of Customs and Commerce (“Ministry”) is now empowered to establish a system, where senders must log recipient approvals and rejections. If senders fail to transfer existing approvals into the new system within the specified period, these consents will be deemed invalid. In that case, senders will need to obtain the approval again. Recipients will also be able to exercise their right to approve or disapprove commercial electronic notifications via the new system. Further details will be announced via secondary legislation.
With the recent changes, Law number 6563 on Regulation of the Electronic Commerce now also regulates that the Ministry can request information to monitor and assess the e-commerce sector’s development. If the Ministry requests information, it must be provided via the new electronic system. Please see this link for more details on recently announced mandatory central registration system for e-commerce activities.
The new provisions were introduced by the Law number 7061 Amending Certain Tax Laws and Other Laws, published in Official Gazette number 30261 on 5 December 2017, entering into force on the same day. Please see this link for the full text (only available in Turkish).