Recent development
In Turkey, consumer complaints against sellers and manufacturers may only be brought in Turkish consumer courts if the amount in dispute is above a certain threshold. These thresholds are set shortly before the beginning of each calendar year. Consumer complaints below the jurisdictional thresholds may only be brought in a consumer arbitral tribunal. On December 27, 2014, Turkey set the thresholds for 2015 in its Communiqué on Monetary Limits Set Forth under the Consumer Protection Law and the Consumer Arbitral Tribunals Regulation (Communiqué No: TGM-2014/2), raising the thresholds by 10%.
Under this communiqué, consumer complaints below the threshold of TRY 3,300 (approx. USD 1,400) must be submitted to consumer arbitral tribunals, whereas those above this threshold must be submitted to consumer courts.
Possible implications
If the consumer fails to submit his/her complaint to the appropriate consumer arbitral tribunal or consumer court, his/her application will be subject to rejection at the preliminary examination phase. This would also allow defendant companies to raise a valid objection.
Baker & McKenzie
At Baker & McKenzie, we provide sophisticated advice on consumer law matters. In addition to advisory services, we represent our clients before consumer arbitral tribunal and consumer courts and provide tailor-made consumer law trainings. Please contact us if you would like more information on how to comply with these requirements.
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