The Regulation on Contracts Established Outside the Workplace Has Been Amended

The Regulation Amending the Regulation on Contracts Established Outside the Workplace (“Amending Regulation”), which stipulates amendments to the Regulation on Contracts Established Outside the Workplace (“Regulation”) enacted based on the Law No. 6502 on the Protection of Consumers (“Law”), was published in the Official Gazette dated 23/08/2024 and numbered 32641.

With these amendments, changes have been made to the provisions under the Regulation's sections titled “Scope,” “Preliminary Information,” “Mandatory Content of the Contract,” “Exceptions to the Right of Withdrawal,” “Retention of Information,” and the articles under the Authorization Certificate section, including “Application Conditions,” “Evaluation of Applications,” “Validity Period,” and “Revocation of Certificates.”

The key amendments in the Amending Regulation are as follows:

◼ Pursuant to Article 1 of the Amended Regulation; the following types of contracts, which are regulated in Article 2 of the Regulation as contracts to which the Regulation will not apply, have been added:

- sales made in shopping centers,

- cleaning services

- services related to betting, lotteries and similar games of chance and

- services such as accommodation, goods transportation, car rental, food and beverage supply, and leisure activities that must be conducted on a specific date or within a specific period.

Additionally, the maximum threshold for the contract value at which the provisions of the Regulation do not apply has been increased from thirty Turkish Lira to two hundred fifty Turkish Lira. This amount will be increased annually from the beginning of the calendar year in line with the revaluation rate determined and announced under Article 298/B of the Tax Procedure Law (“TPL”), with amounts rounded down to the nearest Turkish Lira.

◼ Pursuant to Article 2, the definition of Ministry in Article 4 of the Regulation titled “Definitions” has been changed to Ministry of Trade.

◼ Pursuant to Article 3, the obligations of the seller or provider regarding the matters that the consumer must be informed before being bound by an offer have been expanded and new elements have been added. Accordingly, the seller or provider is obliged to inform the consumer about:

- the period and procedure for exercising the right of withdrawal,

- the conditions under which the right of withdrawal will be lost if it applies; and

- the situations where the right of withdrawal cannot be exercised under Article 14 of the Regulation, in which the consumer cannot benefit from the right of withdrawal.

◼ In line with the amendments made to Article 7 of the Regulation, which contains the mandatory elements to be included in the contract content, have brought new requirements, such as:

- Removing the obligation to include the identity and address of the person acting on behalf of or for the account of the seller or provider,

- Adding the requirement to include the email address, the province and district where the contract is established, the conditions, period, and procedure for exercising the right of withdrawal, if applicable, the phone number where the consumer can send text messages, and information that the consumer can apply to the consumer arbitration committee or the consumer court under Article 73/A of the Law with mandatory mediation before filing a lawsuit.

On the other hand, sellers and providers must ensure that the consumer signs the contract and includes, in the consumer's handwriting, the following statements, depending on the situation:

- For contracts where the right of withdrawal is applicable, “I have been informed that I have the right to withdraw within fourteen days and that I cannot exercise this right verbally. I received a copy of the contract and the sample withdrawal form in person.”,

- In cases where the right of withdrawal cannot be exercised pursuant to Article 14, “I am aware that I cannot exercise my right of withdrawal in this contract.” and

- In cases where the right of withdrawal will be lost “I am aware that I will lose my right of withdrawal if the packaging or protective elements of the goods subject to this contract are opened.”

in the consumer's handwriting.

◼ Pursuant to Article 5, the phrase “provider” in the second paragraph of Article 11 of the Regulation titled “obligations of the seller or provider” has been removed.

◼ Pursuant to Article 6, in the first paragraph of Article 14 of the Regulation titled “exceptions to the right of withdrawal”, the phrase “contracts regarding digital content and computer consumables offered in tangible media.”  has been revised as “contracts regarding computer consumables” and subparagraph d of the same article has been repealed.

◼ Pursuant to Article 7, the allocation of a telephone line by the seller or provider in order for consumers to communicate regarding the established contract, which is regulated in Article 17 of the Regulation, has been removed as an optional right.

◼ Pursuant to Article 8, Article 18 of the Regulation has been repealed and the obligation of the seller or provider to keep the information and documents related to each transaction regarding the contract regulated under the Regulation and its obligations regarding;

- the right of withdrawal,

- information,

- delivery and other issues

for three years has been removed. This obligation continues for direct selling companies.

On the other hand, pursuant to the Amended Regulation, amendments have been made to the information and documents required to be included in the application for the authorization certificate obtained by the sellers or providers operating within the scope of the Regulation by applying to the provincial directorate where their headquarters are located.

◼ It is important to note the following provisions added to Article 23 of the Regulation:

- sellers or suppliers whose authorization certificate is revoked pursuant to the first paragraph of Article 23 of the Regulation, and other sellers or suppliers whose managers, members of the board of directors or partners authorized to represent them shall not be granted an authorization certificate for a period of one year from the date of cancellation and

- in the event that the authorization certificate is used outside the contracts established outside the workplace, the certificate of the seller or provider will be canceled without warning and the authorization certificate will not be re-issued

The Amending Regulation will be executed by the Ministry of Trade and will enter into force on 01/01/2025. In light of the aforementioned changes, companies operating under the Regulation on Contracts Established Outside the Workplace must update their documents and forms accordingly by this date.