Recent Development
The Regulation on Commercial Advertisements and Unfair Commercial Practices (the “Regulation“) was recently amended to include further restrictions on comparative advertising for specific types of food products.
Background
The Regulation is the main legislation on commercial advertisements directed at consumers. The Regulation allows for general comparative advertising, strictly prohibiting it only for supplement food products. The recent amendment to Article 8(3) of the Regulation introduces further restrictions on the comparative advertising of food products with health and nutritional claims
What’s new?
Article 8(3) of the Regulation was amended to include further details on the comparative advertisement of food products. The previous version of Article 8(3) only provided that food supplements may not be subject to comparative advertising.
Amended Article 8(3) now expressly prohibits comparative advertisements referring to any aspect within the scope of the health claims on a food product. The amended article further states that the comparative advertising of nutritional claims on food products will be subject to the requirements under the relevant legislation. Consequently, comparative advertising for food products has been limited to nutritional claims.
The amendment entered into force as of January 4, 2017.
Conclusion
While the concept of comparative advertising in Turkey has expanded in recent years, comparative advertising for certain products are restricted due to concerns of consumer protection and public health. Advertisers should pay attention to these new restrictions and fulfill the requirements for the advertising of food products.
For a further explanation on comparative advertising and the recent amendments on the Regulation, please refer to our previous client alerts of January 2017 and December 2016.
