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Legal Alerts

E-Commerce Regulation is Amended

Legal Alerts
Intellectual Property and Technology
General

Recent Developments 

The Regulation Amending the Regulation on Electronic Commerce Intermediary Service Providers and Electronic Commerce Service Providers (“Amendments“) was published in the official gazette dated 8 March 2025 and numbered 32835. It introduced significant amendments to the Regulation on Electronic Commerce Intermediary Service Providers and Electronic Commerce Service Providers (“Regulation“) and became effective as of the publication date.

You may access the Amendments here (in Turkish).

What’s New

ECSPs’ introductory information on marketplaces

  • Electronic commerce service providers (ECSPs) are no longer required to provide the following information in the areas allocated to them on a marketplace:
    • Registered e-mail address (tr – KEP) for ECSPs that are merchants, tradesmen or craftsmen
    • Name and surname for ECSPs that are not merchants, tradesmen or craftsmen
  • The information that ECSPs are required to provide to the electronic commerce intermediary service provider (ECISP) has been amended. Now, the ECSPs must provide the following information to ECISPs:
    • Head office address, email address and telephone number for ECSPs that are merchants, tradesmen or craftsmen
    • Name, surname, Turkish ID number, email address and telephone number for ECSPs that are not merchants, tradesmen or craftsmen
  • The ECISP must display under the marketplace that it has the approved electronic address of the ECSP and the information stated above, which it has verified (except for the telephone number)
  • Pursuant to the Regulation, ECISPs must ensure that the introductory information of the ECSPs is up to date. Prior to the Amendments, ECISPs were required to verify the accuracy of the information provided by the ECSPs within the first three months of each year, whereas with the Amendments, it will be sufficient for ECISPs to verify the information at least once a year. The verification obligation will not apply to calendar years in which the ECSP does not list products on the marketplace.

Unfair commercial practices and intermediary agreements

  • Complying with the unfair commercial practice regarding the right of withdrawal period is eased for ECISPs. Now, ECISPs can determine a right of withdrawal period longer than the legal periods set forth under Law No. 6502 on the Protection of Consumers without the consent of ECSPs, provided that ECISPs explicitly include such period in the intermediary agreement.
  • The Amendments introduce a new unfair commercial practice example. The imposition of a penalty clause by ECISPs without requesting an explanation from the ECSP over the internal communication system is considered as an unfair commercial practice. However, the cases where the penalty is justified by documents and records are exempt from this restriction.
  • Certain amendments are also made to the intermediary agreement procedure. Prior to the Amendments, if the provisions of the intermediary agreement were amended by the ECISP, the amendments would become effective at the end of the 15-day period following the notification of the amendments to the ECSPs, unless otherwise stated. As per the Amendments, the 15-day period will not be applicable to amendments that are in favor of the ECSPs, provided that the ECSPs are notified. In addition, the periods specified in the Regulation will not be applicable to the mandatory amendments made to the intermediary agreement due to the decisions taken and regulations adopted by the regulatory and supervisory authorities.

Internal communication system

  • As per the Amendments, the information provided in the internal communication system must be available for ECSPs to display, record and copy, within the duration of the intermediary agreement and for one year following the termination of the intermediary agreement.

Marketing activities on online search engines

  • Pursuant to the Regulation, it is prohibited to engage in marketing and promotion activities on online search engines by using the registered brands that constitute the main element of the domain names registered in the Electronic Trade Information System (ETBIS) of entities that are not part of the same economic integrity as the ECISPs and ECSPs .With the Amendments, the process to be followed should such requirement be violated is as follows:
    • If a breach is identified, the Ministry of Trade (“Ministry“) notifies the relevant ECISP or ECSP to cease the breach. It also imposes administrative penalties.
    • The ECISP or ECSP must cease the violation and add the keywords subject to the complaint as negative exact match keywords in all advertising models and campaign types, within 24 hours following the Ministry’s notification. The ECISP or ECSP must submit to the Ministry, without delay, the information and documents attesting to the actions taken.

Data access and portability requests

  • With the Amendments, the data access and portability procedure is amended as follows:
    • ECSPs are now allowed to request data portability — in an efficient manner and free of charge — for the data that is listed under the Regulation, not only during the term of the intermediary agreement but also within one year following the termination of the intermediary agreement. Such data includes sales and return data, features, descriptions and visuals of the products offered for sale by the ECSP; questions, responses and evaluations regarding these products; and (if obtained by the ECISP) the performance score data of the ECSP.
    • During the term of the intermediary agreement, ECSPs will continue to have access to information on the periodic, special day, category and product-based most preferred product data, gender, age group, province and district distribution of buyers, as well as purchase day and time data regarding its own orders, if such data is obtained by the ECISP.

Independent audit

  • Medium, large and very large-scale ECSPs and ECISPs must submit the independent audit reports to the Ministry in August.
  • The Amendments also clarify that the registered trademark information of entities that are part of the same economic integrity as the ECISPs and ECSPs must be included in the independent auditor’s report, in addition to the registered trademark information of the ECISPs and ECSPs themselves.

Regulatory compliance report

  • With the Amendments, Law No. 7223 on Product Safety and Technical Regulations is included in the list of legislation that medium, large and very large-scale ECISPs must comply with in relation to the content provided by the ECSP. It is equally important for ECISPs to consider their obligations under the Regulation on Market Surveillance and Inspection of Products Placed on the Market via Remote Communication Tools, which will enter into force on 1 April 2025.
  • In addition, similar to independent audit reports, regulatory compliance reports must be submitted to the Ministry during August.

Advertising budget

  • The Regulation stipulates limitations on the advertising expenditures of large and very large-scale ECISPs and ECSPs. Prior to the Amendments, sponsorship expenditures up to 25% of advertising budgets were not included in the budget. This ratio is increased to 50% with the Amendments.
  • Failure to list under the advertising expenditures in its notification to the Ministry the advertisements that are carried out by having the ECSPs or third parties advertise in a way that benefits the ECISPs will be deemed as misleading the Ministry.
  • With the Amendments, advertising expenditures that correspond to up to 5% of the calculated advertising budget of the ECISP and ECSP for the purchase of used goods and the sale of refurbished products within the scope of the Regulation on the Sale of Refurbished Products will not be included in the advertising budget.

Promotion budget

  • With the Amendments, if buyers are able to postpone payment in installment sales, provided that the price incurred is borne by ECISPs, the cost incurred will be included in the promotion budget.
  • The Amendments also explicitly stipulate that benefits and discounts provided to buyers and ECSPs with the Ministry’s prior approval to ensure the active participation of disadvantaged segments of society in economic and social life and in cases requiring cooperation, such as earthquakes, fires and floods, will not be considered within the scope of the promotion budget of ECISPs.
  • Similar to the advertising budget, promotion expenditures that correspond to up to 5% of the calculated promotion budget of ECISPs and ECSPs for the purchase of used goods and the sale of refurbished products within the scope of the Regulation on the Sale of Refurbished Products will not be included in the promotion budget.

License fee calculation

  • The E-Commerce Law (“Law“) introduced a license obligation back in 2022. However, the Law also included certain exceptions for the calculation of the license fee, in terms of transactions made abroad. Accordingly, the transactions made abroad through the electronic commerce marketplaces of ECISPs and ECISPs with which they are part of the same economic integrity will not be included in the license fee calculation.
  • On 30 October 2024, the Law was amended. Within such amendments, additional exemptions are introduced for the calculation of the license fee. Moreover, it was envisaged that the amount of transactions made abroad will be deducted from the net transaction volume. These amendments are now also included in the Regulation. For detailed information on these amendments, you may review our legal alert here.
  • Since the transactions made abroad are exempted from the calculation of the license fee and allow for a deduction from the net transaction volume, the Amendments further elaborate the e-commerce models that will be considered as transactions made abroad. The Regulation deems the following models to be transactions made abroad:
    • Transactions made abroad through ECISPs/ECISPs located in Türkiye with which they are part of the same economic integrity (irrespective of whether the goods are sent abroad prior to or after the order)
    • In the case of an integration between ECISPs/ECISPs located in Türkiye and ECISPs located abroad with which they are part of the same economic integrity, transactions made abroad by ECISPs located in Türkiye through ECISPs located abroad (irrespective of whether the goods are sent abroad prior to or after the order)
    • Transactions made abroad via ECISPs through a third-party ECISP located abroad (irrespective of whether the goods are shipped abroad prior to or after the order)
    • Orders made through ECISPs using a foreign IP address and a foreign card
  • The final amount of invoices or documents in lieu of an invoice must be considered when calculating the foregoing transaction amounts.
  • The goods to be sold abroad must have the status of goods in free circulation in accordance with the Customs Law.
  • The Ministry is authorized to determine additional types of transaction models for transactions made abroad.
  • Within the scope of the Regulation, the burden of proof regarding transactions made abroad lies on the ECISPs. Accordingly, ECISPs must provide all kinds of information and documents to prove the declaration in question, take the necessary measures and establish the technical infrastructure for effective and efficient audits.

Order management

  • Prior to the Amendments, ECISPs were required to provide the technical infrastructure for (i) the simultaneous transfer of the order information regarding the goods they intermediate the sale of on their marketplaces to the ECSPs, and (ii) the update of the stock information by the ECSPs. The Amendments stipulate an exemption for this obligation. This requirement will not be applicable to ECISPs that intermediate the sale of food and beverages, such as restaurants, brasseries, cafes, patisseries and similar food and beverage services.

Conclusion

Following the comprehensive amendments to the Law introduced back in 2022, the Ministry amended the Regulation after reviewing practical implementation and necessities and aimed to address certain implementation issues in practice. In particular, the concept of transactions made abroad is clarified, the procedure for marketing activities on online search engines is elaborated, and amendments are introduced regarding the introductory information of ECSPs. Consequently, it is important for ECISPs to analyze the Amendments in detail and carry out the necessary compliance steps.