Bill for the protection of consumers has been enacted

According to the law, the formal requirements for contracts between lenders and consumers under the Law on the Protection of Consumers are being reorganized to allow for their establishment through methods that involve verifying the consumer's identity via an information or electronic communication device. Accordingly, a consumer credit agreement will not be valid unless it is established in writing or remotely.

Taking into account the regulation allowing consumer credit agreements to be established remotely via distance communication tools, a provision is being made to allow other transactions related to the contract to be conducted remotely in an electronic environment using a permanent data storage device. Accordingly, the account related to a fixed-term credit agreement will be closed upon the repayment of the credit, unless the consumer requests otherwise in writing or via a permanent data storage device.

The same provisions will also apply to contracts between housing finance institutions and consumers.

With the law, direct sales systems are defined as "a sales system where direct sellers, who are not employed under an employment contract but operate under names such as independent representative, distributor, consultant, and similar, in exchange for benefits such as commissions, premiums, incentives, and rewards, market goods or services to consumers, created by a direct sales company." It will be mandatory for the direct sales company to be a capital company and to meet other conditions determined by regulation.

The direct sales system must not be based on the distribution of benefits arising primarily from recruiting new direct sellers to the system, but must be based on the sale of goods or services to consumers and comply with other principles determined by regulation. Direct sellers cannot be charged any fees or be made to sign documents creating debt under names such as renewal, package, fee, dues, and similar, which do not include the goods or services intended for sale to the consumer, in order to join or remain in the system.

The purchase of goods or services in an amount or quantity determined by the direct sales company will not be able to determine the direct seller's level within the system. A consumer who purchases goods or services within the scope of the direct sales system will have the right to withdraw from the contract within 30 days without providing any justification and without paying any penalty. It will be sufficient for the notification regarding the use of the right of withdrawal to be directed to the direct seller or the direct sales company within this period.

The direct sales company will be obliged to establish a system that ensures the consumer is informed on matters determined by the Ministry of Trade and can transmit their requests and notifications. This regulation will enter into force 9 months after the publication of the law.

PENALTIES FOR UNFAIR COMMERCIAL PRACTICES ARE BEING INCREASED

The regulation was introduced to increase deterrence and effectively protect consumers, as the previously fixed administrative fines for advertising and unfair commercial practices had become insufficient.

For those acting in violation of the obligations regarding unfair commercial practices, sanctions of "suspension of the unfair commercial practice for up to 3 months" or "suspension of the practice" will be applied, or an "administrative fine ranging from 60,000 Turkish Liras to 600,000 Turkish Liras" will be imposed.

If the violation has occurred nationwide, the administrative fine will be applied in the range of 600,000 Turkish Liras to 6 million Turkish Liras.

In cases where all types of information and documents are not accurately presented to authorized persons or institutions during inspections, a warning will be issued to provide the correct information and documents or to allow on-site inspection within 7 days. If the violation continues despite the warning, an administrative fine will be imposed at a rate of one percent of the annual gross revenue generated at the end of the previous fiscal year, provided that it is not less than 80,000 Turkish Liras.

In cases where gross revenue is not reported or is reported incorrectly, an administrative fine of 6 million Turkish Liras will be applied for prepaid housing sales, and 1 million Turkish Liras for other sales.

The Advertising Board is granted the authority to impose administrative fines within these limits, taking into account factors such as the content of the unfairness, the magnitude of the benefit obtained or the damage caused by the violation, as well as the fault and economic status of the party committing the violation.

PYRAMID SALES SYSTEMS

Under the law, the relevant provisions of the Turkish Penal Code will be applied to those who initiate, organize, or disseminate pyramid sales systems—contrary to the provisions in the existing law—through meetings, emails, or other methods suitable for ensuring the participation of many people, or who support the spread of such a system for commercial purposes in any other way.

Furthermore, administrative fines are being established for cases where a direct sales company is not a capital company, where the direct sales system is not structured to ensure that the profit to be obtained is primarily based on recruiting new direct sellers to the system and distributing the resulting benefits, or where the company fails to establish a system that ensures consumer information. This regulation will enter into force 9 months after the publication of the law.

With the regulation, an opportunity for settlement is also granted to parties subject to administrative fines imposed by the Advertising Board.

In this way, by taking into account the public costs that would be caused by litigation processes regarding administrative actions arising from violations of provisions on commercial advertising and unfair commercial practices, as well as the public benefits to be obtained through the rapid and definitive termination of the violation and the process, the settlement mechanism currently applied for violations of other provisions of the law is now also made available for provisions regarding commercial advertising and unfair commercial practices.

Equality is ensured in terms of the opportunity for settlement for natural or legal persons subject to penalties.

PROVISIONS REGARDING ELECTRONIC COMMERCE

With the amendment made to the Law on the Regulation of Electronic Commerce, in order to encourage cross-border electronic commerce activities of electronic commerce intermediary service providers that facilitate businesses in reaching foreign markets, as well as high-technology investments, the total of sales made abroad through marketplaces and investment expenditures realized with an investment incentive certificate from the Ministry of Industry and Technology will be deducted from the net transaction volume used as the basis for calculating the license fee.

In order to protect a fair competitive environment and the multi-player structure of the sector, a condition has been introduced that for the discount opportunity granted by the regulation to be utilized, the net transaction volume of the electronic commerce intermediary service provider must not exceed 20 percent of the electronic commerce volume, which represents the total net transaction volume of electronic commerce intermediary service providers and electronic commerce service providers within the scope of the law, and is calculated by the Ministry using Electronic Commerce Information System (ETBIS) data.

To be applied in the calculation of the license fee for the year 2024, 4 times the total of sales made abroad through the marketplaces of the electronic commerce intermediary service provider and investment expenditures realized by obtaining an investment incentive certificate will be deducted from the net transaction volume, while 3 times the said sales and expenditures will be deducted from the net transaction volume in the calculation of the license fee for the year 2025.

These provisions will enter into force on the date of their publication, effective from the accounting period beginning in 2024 for taxpayers who have been assigned a special accounting period as of January 1, 2024.

3 NEW ARTICLES INTRODUCED

With a motion by the AKP accepted in the General Assembly, 3 new articles were introduced to the law, including some provisions from the Bill on Amendments to the Law on Certain Regulations Regarding the Defense Industry and Other Laws, which had its deliberations postponed in the Planning and Budget Committee.

According to the amendment made to the Tax Procedure Law, adjustment differences arising from the inflation adjustment of amounts tracked in the "investments in progress" account in accordance with the accounting standards within the scope of the regulation, and monitored in the sub-account of this account, will be shown in a special fund account on the liabilities side of the balance sheet and will not be taken into account in the determination of period earnings.

These amounts in the special fund account will be taken into account in the determination of period earnings in equal installments within the period in which the investment is completed and the relevant economic asset is capitalized, and the 4 accounting periods following this period. In accordance with this regulation, the amounts monitored in the special fund account and not taken into account in the determination of period earnings will be increased each year by the revaluation rate determined in accordance with the Law for the previous year. No further inflation adjustment will be applied to the amounts monitored in these accounts.

In cases where the business is discontinued during the investment period or after the capitalization of the economic asset, or if some or all of the amounts monitored in the special fund account are transferred to another account or withdrawn from the business, the amounts not taken into account in the period earnings in accordance with this regulation will be included in the determination of the corporate earnings for the period in which the business was discontinued or the special fund account was used, in whole or in part, in violation of the provisions of this clause.

The group of taxpayers for whom profit/loss differences arising from inflation adjustment made in the 2024 and 2025 accounting periods, including temporary tax periods, will not be taken into account in the determination of taxable earnings is being expanded to include companies in liquidation and bankruptcy, as well as state economic enterprises and public economic institutions within the scope of the Decree-Law on State Economic Enterprises. Provisions are being established regarding from which period the taxpayers included in the scope will not take into account profit/loss differences arising from inflation adjustment in the determination of taxable period earnings, and in which cases such adjustment differences will be taken into account in the determination of the tax base.

REGULATION FOR NEW OIZ

With the amendment made to the Coastal Law, the establishment of an Organized Industrial Zone (OSB) is now permitted in a designated area in Samsun, with defined boundaries and coordinates, through a zoning plan decision in accordance with site selection criteria.

Following the completion of the deliberations, the Bill on Amendments to the Law on the Protection of Consumers and Certain Other Laws was accepted in the vote.

After the bill was accepted, Deputy Speaker of the TBMM Celal Adan adjourned the session to reconvene at 14:00.

News Source: AA