Esin Commercial And Trade Quarterly

In recent weeks, Law No. 7511 on the Amendments to the Turkish Commercial Code and Certain Laws and Presidential Decree No. 8485 on the Implementation of the Legal Interest Rate regulated in Article 1 of Law No. 3095 on Legal Interest and Default Interest as 24% per annum, Effective as of 1 June 2024 were published. Also, i) the Turkish Food Codex Regulation on Food Labeling and Informing Consumers, ii) the Regulation on the Qualification of Tourism Facilities and iii) the Regulation on Regulating the Activities Regarding the Renting of Residential Properties for Tourism Purposes were amended.

Regulation Amending the Turkish Food Codex Regulation on Food Labeling and Informing Consumers

On 6 April 2024, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry published the Regulation Amending the Turkish Food Codex Regulation on Food Labeling and Informing Consumers.

The Regulation is available here (in Turkish).

The main amendments introduced by the Regulation are as follows:

• Information about a food product cannot be provided in a misleading manner by using a real food image to represent flavoring on the label of a food in which flavoring is used entirely instead of a food ingredient. Moreover, if a representational image of flavoring is used on the label of a food in the production of which flavoring is used entirely instead of a food ingredient, the fact that the food is "flavored" must be emphasized or the statement "flavored" must be included wherever the representational image is used. Return to Contents In recent weeks, Law No. 7511 on the Amendments to the Turkish Commercial Code and Certain Laws and Presidential Decree No. 8485 on the Implementation of the Legal Interest Rate regulated in Article 1 of Law No. 3095 on Legal Interest and Default Interest as 24% per annum, Effective as of 1 June 2024 were published. Also, i) the Turkish Food Codex Regulation on Food Labeling and Informing Consumers, ii) the Regulation on the Qualification of Tourism Facilities and iii) the Regulation on Regulating the Activities Regarding the Renting of Residential Properties for Tourism Purposes were amended.
• In the name and label of a food that may be confused with each other, information about the food shall not be given in a misleading manner by using the words "taste," "delight," "enjoyment" and similar expressions together with the name of another food that does not have the characteristics of another food.
• The name of the food must appear in the main field of vision on the label, with all words in the same size, the same font and the same style and contrasting with the background color. However, the name of the food may appear separately on the label outside the main field of vision.
• Food business operators must comply with the above amendments by 31 December 2026. Thereafter, foods, including imported foods, that do not comply with these amendments cannot be placed on the market.

Regulation Amending the Regulation on the Qualification of Tourism Facilities

On 11 May 2024, the Presidency of the Republic of Türkiye published the Regulation Amending the Regulation on the Qualification of Tourism Facilities.

The Regulation is available here (in Turkish).

The main amendments introduced by the Regulation are as follows:

• The Ministry of Culture and Tourism will request the relevant Land Registry Directorate to annotate on the title deed record of the accommodation facilities for which investment certificates are issued by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism that "they cannot be used for purposes other than tourism, or that timeshare, condominium or condominium ownership cannot be established on the accommodation units, and that agreements regarding utilization, usage and management cannot be annotated on the title deed registry."
• The agreements regarding the utilization, usage and management of the accommodation units of the facilities providing accommodation services that cannot be annotated to the land registry and tourism operation certificates cannot be issued for such facilities.
• The Ministry of Culture and Tourism will not accept the agreements regarding the use, utilization and management or timeshare, condominium or condominium ownership agreements, and agreements containing provisions for the use of the property subject to the investment other than the accommodation facilities listed in this Regulation in the tourism investment certificate applications in the parcels where accommodation facilities are approved in the zoning plan. The certificates of the facilities found to be contrary to these provisions will be canceled.

Presidential Decree No. 8485 on the Implementation of the Legal Interest Rate regulated in Article 1 of the Law No. 3095 on Legal Interest and Default Interest as 24% per annum, Effective as of 1 June 2024

On 21 May 2024, the Presidency of the Republic of Türkiye published Presidential Decree No. 8485 on the Implementation of the Legal Interest Rate regulated in Article 1 of Law No. 3095 on Legal Interest and Default Interest as 24% per annum, Effective as of 1 June 2024. In this regard, effective as of 1 June 2024, the legal interest rate will be applied as 24% per annum.

The Decree is available here (in Turkish).

Law No. 7511 on the Amendments to the Turkish Commercial Code and Certain Laws

On 29 May 2024, the Turkish Grand National Assembly published Law No. 7511 on the Amendments to the Turkish Commercial Code and Certain Laws ("Law"). In this regard, the Law makes significant amendments to Law No. 6502 on Consumer Protection ("Consumer Protection Law"), Law No. 6585 on Retail Trade ("Retail Trade Law") and Law No. 7223 on Product Safety and Technical Regulations ("Product Safety Law").

The Law is available here (in Turkish), and our legal alert on the Law is available here for details.

The main amendments introduced by the Law to the Consumer Protection Law are as follows:

• Regarding unfair commercial advertisements on the internet, the Advertisement Board must first make a notification for the removal of the content through electronic communication tools, which can be obtained by using communication tools from the relevant web page, domain name, IP address and similar information obtained from similar sources. However, if the content is not removed within 24 hours despite this notification, the Advertising Board can order access to be blocked.
• If the addressee cannot be notified, the Advertisement Board can order access blocking directly. The access blocking order can only be issued for the content where the violation has occurred. Limited to cases where it is technically impossible to block access to the content related to the violation or where the violation cannot be prevented by blocking access to the relevant content, access to the entire website can be blocked. The access blocking order shall be sent to the Access Providers Union for execution.
• Higher fines will be imposed for certain violations under the Consumer Protection Law. In particular:
  • Companies that fail to use 12-point bold type with clear language in consumer agreements, claim rights against the consumer by offering goods and services that are not ordered, violate the consumer's right of withdrawal, violate the principles regarding subscription agreements, supply goods without price tags to retail trade, fail to provide prior information or violate the consumer's right of withdrawal in distance sales contracts will be subject to a fine of TRY 2,200 (approx. USD 67) per violation;
  • Companies that avoid the sale of a good or service will be subject to a fine of 10% of the total sales price, including all taxes, of the goods or services avoided, provided that it is not less than TRY 2,200 (approx. USD 67) for each transaction or agreement;
  • Companies that fail to obtain an after-sales service qualification certificate will be subject to a fine of TRY 1,115,000 (approx. USD 33,921), and those that fail to register or update their registration in the system of the Ministry of Trade ("Ministry") will be subject to a fine of TRY 18,000 (approx. USD 548) for each service station
  • Service stations operating without being affiliated to any manufacturer or importer and that do not use the expression "private service" in an easily visible and readable manner in all kinds of media and activities will be subject to an administrative fine of TRY 18,000 (approx. USD 548); and
  • Manufacturers and importers that do not have the minimum number of service stations during the validity period of the after-sales service qualification certificate will be subject to an administrative fine of TRY 124,000 (approx. USD 3,772) for each missing service station

The main amendments introduced by the Law to the Retail Trade Law are as follows:

• Higher fines will be imposed for certain violations under the Retail Trade Law. In this regard:
  • Manufacturers, suppliers and retail businesses that make exorbitant increases in the sale price of a good or service will be subject to an administrative fine from TRY 100,000 (approx. USD 3,042) to TRY 1,000,000 (approx. USD 30,422) for each violation; and
  • Manufacturers, suppliers and retail businesses that engage in activities that create shortages in the market, disrupt market balance and free competition, and prevent consumers from accessing goods will be subject to administrative fines from TRY 1,000,000 (approx. USD 30,422) to TRY 12,000,000 (approx. USD 365,067) for each violation. In addition, the Ministry of Trade may close the workplaces of manufacturers, suppliers and retail businesses that have been fined at least three times in a calendar year for up to six days.
• Additionally, the total amount of administrative fines to be imposed pursuant to the Retail Trade Law for a calendar year shall not exceed:
  • TRY 20,000,000 (approx. USD 608,445) for small-scale enterprises;
  • TRY 200,000,000 (approx. USD 6,084,446) for medium-scale enterprises; and
  • TRY 1,000,000,000 (approx. USD 30,422,230) for large-scale enterprises.

The main amendments introduced by the Law to the Product Safety Law are as follows:

• If the products exported or intended to be exported to countries other than European Union countries are unsafe, subject to adulteration or marked, labeled and certified in a way to mislead the buyer, the exporters will be subject to administrative fines from TRY 240,566 (approx. USD 7,319) to TRY 2,405,665 (approx. USD 73,186) for violations related to product safety, and from TRY 96,226 (approx. USD 2,927) to TRY 962,265 (approx. USD 29,274) for other violations.

Regulation on Regulating the Activities Regarding the Renting of Residential Properties for Tourism Purposes

On 30 May 2024, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism published the Regulation on Regulating the Activities Regarding the Renting of Residential Properties for Tourism Purposes.

The Regulation is available here (in Turkish).

The main amendments introduced by the Regulation are as follows:

• High-quality housing (residence) is defined as a residential building with more than one independent section where, among other conditions, at least two of the following are provided: reception, security and daily cleaning services, health services, dry cleaning, laundry, transportation, catering and shopping services, as well as gym and swimming pool services.
• Provincial Directorates of Culture and Tourism must finalize the applications for permit certificates within 60 days.
• During inspections of residences for which a permit certificate has been issued, if it is determined that the residence does not have:
  • a bed, toilet-bathroom, living area and kitchen;
  • cold and hot water, quality bedding in the bedrooms, one pillow per person, pillowcase, sheets, piqué or quilt according to climatic conditions, face and bath towels per person in the bathroom;
  • chemical fire extinguishers and smoke detectors against fire in all sections with fixed separation except bathrooms and toilets, sketch showing the location of the escape staircase behind the door; and
  • furnishing, decoration, equipment and devices in compliance with the standards, and that are clean, well maintained and in working condition,

the permit certificate holder will be given a period of 15 days to remedy the violations. If the violations are not remedied, an administrative fine of TRY 100,000 (approx. USD 3,101) will be imposed, and another period of 15 days will be given. If the violations are still not remedied, the permit certificate will be canceled.

Conclusion

Significant legislative developments continue to be made in the commercial and trade sector. All stakeholders in the sector should carefully review the legislative developments and ensure compliance with the regulations.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.