Ministry of Commerce’s e-commerce statement: 230 million lira fine imposed

The Ministry of Trade imposed administrative fines of 230 million TL on 40 e-commerce companies in the first half of 2024.

In a statement made by the Ministry of Trade, it was stated that “Distance sales, whose share and importance is gradually increasing in retail trade, have become indispensable for consumers on the one hand due to being an easy, fast and practical shopping method, while on the other hand, the lack of the opportunity to physically see and control the products subject to the contract in such shopping and the lack of face-to-face communication with the seller make consumers more vulnerable to exploitation. For this reason, in these shoppings, it is of great importance for consumers to be fully and accurately informed and their rights regarding withdrawal from the contract and product delivery are secured by the Distance Contracts Regulation.”

The statement included the following information:

“Within this framework, in order to ensure the protection of the economic interests of consumers in line with the consumer applications submitted to our Ministry in 2024, our Ministry has conducted examinations and inspections on issues where consumer grievances are concentrated, especially order cancellations made on the grounds that the product is not in stock without the knowledge and approval of the consumer, non-delivery of purchased products within the period specified in the legislation, and non-refunds of contracts terminated by consumers due to non-compliance with these periods. In this context; Out of the 42 companies inspected in 2024, an administrative fine of approximately 230 million Turkish Liras was imposed on 40 companies that were detected to have practices contrary to the legislation.

In addition to this, in order to ensure that the activities of the 7 companies are evaluated within the scope of the crime of fraud in Articles 157 and 158 of the Turkish Penal Code No. 5237, 7 Investigation Reports were prepared in addition to the Investigation Reports and submitted to the relevant Chief Public Prosecutor’s Offices.

As it has been until today, our Ministry will continue to carry out effective, intensive and widespread inspections within the framework of Law No. 6502 and the Distance Contracts Regulation in order to protect consumer rights and prevent unfair competition.