The year 2023 was witness to important and significant developments for the practice of advertising law in Türkiye. While, some Guidelines were published by the Advertisement Board based on existing regulations, on the other hand, new legal regulations entered into force through amendments to the existing regulations. In addition, as a result of the effective examinations carried out by the Advertisement Board, prominent and exemplary decisions were rendered in terms of commercial advertising and unfair commercial practices.
According to information obtained from publicly available sources, in 2023, the Advertisement Board imposed administrative fines amounting TRY 114,139,768 in total in addition to suspension penalties on 762 files identified as deceptive advertisements and unfair commercial practices out of the 2,007 files it reviewed.1 In 2024, administrative fines for deceptive and misleading commercial advertisements and unfair commercial practices were updated: there is a TRY 109,988 fine if the violating advertisement is broadcast through a local television channel and TRY 2,200,258 TL if the violating advertisement is broadcast through a national level television channel. It is foreseen that effective examination by the Advertisement Board will continue in 2024 and the increase in administrative fines shall act as a deterrent.
The administrative fines regulated under Article 77 titled "Penalty provisions" of the Consumer Law No. 6502 will be applied as of January 1st 2024 with an increased rate of 58.46%, as announced by the Ministry of Treasury and Finance following the revaluation of 2023 rates in accordance with Article 17(7) titled "Administrative fine" of the Misdemeanors Law No. 5326. Accordingly, administrative fines for deceptive and misleading commercial advertisements and unfair commercial practices will be applied as TRY 109,988 if the violation is realized through a television channel broadcasting at local level and TRY 2,200,258 if the violation is realized through a television channel broadcasting nationwide. An administrative fine of TRY 1,100,129 will be imposed if the violation was committed through national level periodical publications, TRY 550,059 if the violation was committed through radio and internet broadcasting nationwide, and TRY 54,987 if the violation was committed through radio and text messages or other media at the local level.
In 2023, important new amendments were made to the existing legislative rules. In this context, important regulations were enacted by the Ministry of Health regarding the use of health claims in food and food supplements. The Regulation on the Health Claims, which is a new regulation on health claims in food and food supplements, entered into force; and the Guideline on the Health Claims in Food and Food Supplements was published by the Turkish Medicines and Medical Devices Agency in parallel with the amendments made. The Advertisement Board published Guidelines on Consumer Reviews.
New style advertisements, which emerged as a result of the changes in commercial advertisements, were on the agenda of the Advertisement Board in 2023. Upon the emergence of unfair commercial practices known as "dark patterns", which significantly disrupt the economic behavior of consumers, such advertisements and practices entered the agenda of the Advertisement Board.
In addition, advertisements created by artificial intelligence were examined by the Advertisement Board for the first time in 2023. The Advertisement Board decided to suspend various advertisements created by ChatGPT, which contain expressions that include the perception of superiority over competing products or companies and are not based on objective research results.
Finally, the Constitutional Court annulled the power of the Advertisement Board to block access to infringing content published on the internet, finding it contrary to the principle of proportionality.
This document discusses important developments in advertising and media law in Turkey and some of the recent decisions of the Advertisement Board that provide guidance on these issues.
Footnote
1. https://ticaret.gov.tr/haberler/reklam-kurulu-2023-yilinda-114-1-milyon-lira-para-cezasi-kesti
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