The Regulation on the Sale of Refurbished Products, which came into effect in 2020, has undergone changes over time to expand its scope and detail the procedures and principles.1 The most recent of these changes came into effect on August 21, 2024. This amendment introduces new regulations concerning the supervision of refurbishment activities and sanctions for non-compliance with the legislation. In this context:
- Information and documents related to the activities of refurbishment centers that carry out the refurbishment of devices with electronic identity information and businesses that trade these products will be kept within the Ministry of Commerce (Article 5). This registration system will start to be implemented three months after the announcement is made on the Ministry of Commerce's website (Provisional Article 2).
- As a sanction for businesses' non-compliance with the legislation, before the cancellation of the authorization certificate, the business will first be given time to rectify the violation, and then, the authorization certificate will be suspended temporarily (Article 10).
- Refurbishment centers will be able to use their branches and authorized buyers and sellers in their refurbishment activities (Article 12). Accordingly:
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- These branches and authorized entities must be reported to the authorities and shared with the public on their websites.
- Refurbishment centers will monitor, control, and ensure that the activities of their branches, authorized buyers, and authorized sellers comply with the legislation.
- Refurbishment centers will be jointly liable for the activities of these auxiliary performers.
With these changes, the Ministry aims to control refurbishment activities and the refurbished product market more centrally and transparently, thereby protecting public interest, especially that of consumers.
Footnote
1. Please see "Refurbished Products and Producers' Liability" (2022) and "The Market for Refurbished Products is Expanding" (2023) for our firms earlier updates on refurbished product market
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