Amendments to the Consumer Protection Law: Updates on Sanctions

The Law on the Amendment of the Consumer Protection Law and Certain Laws was passed by the General Assembly of the Turkish Grand National Assembly and enacted. With the relevant amendment, significant changes were introduced to the Consumer Protection Law (“Law”) on advertising and commercial practices, direct sales systems, consumer credit, electronic commerce and other consumer transactions. It is noteworthy that with these amendments, the sanctions to be imposed on unlawful advertisements and commercial practices have been significantly increased.

Previously, the existing sanctions envisaged by the Law were determined as lump sum amounts according to the medium in which the violation occurred. For example, it was stated that if the violation occurred through the internet, an administrative fine of 550,059 TL would be imposed for the year 2024. With the newly adopted amendment, the application of a fixed amount for each medium has been abandoned, and instead, lower and upper limits have been determined. Accordingly, an administrative fine will be imposed on the following limits: 

- From TRY 110.000 to TRY 1.100.000, for the violation occurs through a television channel broadcasting at the local level, 

- From TRY 2.210.000 to TRY 22.100.000, for the violation occurs through a television channel broadcasting nationwide, 

- Half of the penalties specified in subparagraphs (a) and (b) if the violation occurs through periodical publications, 

- From TRY 60.000 to TRY 600.000, for the violation occurs through a radio channel broadcasting at local level or via satellite, 

- From TRY 600.000 to TRY 6.000.000, for the violation occurs through a radio channel broadcasting nationwide,

- From TRY 600.000 to TRY 6.000.000, for the violation occurs through a television channel broadcasting via satellite or through the internet,

- From TRY 280.000 to TRY 2.800.000, if the violation occurs through text message,

- From TRY 60.000 to TRY 600.000, if the violation occurs through other media.

It is stated that the Advertisement Board will take into account the unfair content of the violation, the magnitude of the benefit obtained or the damage caused due to the violation, and the fault and economic status of the violator while imposing administrative fines with lower and upper limits. These criteria aim to ensure legal certainty and security by limiting the discretionary power granted to the Advertising Board with the certain criteria. 

In addition, the possibility of reconciliation against administrative fines imposed by the Advertising Board has also been introduced. In the pre-amendment version of the Law, the reconciliation procedure was regulated, but the Advertisement Board fines were excluded. With the amendment, the possibility of reconciliation has been brought between the parties regarding the fines imposed, taking into account the high amount of the fines and the wide discretionary power granted to the Advertisement Board between the lower and upper limits. In this way, it is stated that by taking into account the public costs to be incurred by litigation processes regarding administrative proceedings arising from the violation of the provisions on commercial advertising and unfair commercial practices, and the public benefits to be obtained by terminating the violation and ending the process quickly and definitively, the reconciliation institution, which is currently applied in case of violation of other provisions of the Law, is also applied to the provisions on commercial advertising and unfair commercial practices. It is also mentioned that equality is provided in terms of reconciliation opportunity for natural persons and legal entities who are subject to penalties under the same Law.

With this amendment, it has been once again demonstrated that the Advertising Board does not tolerate unfair and deceptive commercial practices and unlawful advertisements. As a result, it is recommended that advertisers act much more diligently and carefully in their marketing activities under this new order. Otherwise, high penalties may be imposed for advertisements and commercial practices that are found to be unlawful. 

You can access the relevant draft law in Turkish language from this link.