New penalties for e-commerce violations announced: 2025 fines increased by 43.93%!

The Ministry's 'Communiqué on Administrative Fines to be Applied in 2025 Pursuant to Article 12 of the Law on the Regulation of Electronic Commerce' has been published in the Official Gazette.

INCREASED BY 43.93%

With the communiqué, the administrative fines regulated in the relevant law have been redetermined by increasing them according to the 43.93% revaluation rate set for 2024.

Accordingly, an intermediary service provider that engages in practices that significantly distort the commercial activities or economic behavior of the e-commerce service provider, makes unilateral changes to the provisions of the brokerage agreement to the detriment of the service provider, or includes any provision in the contract that allows for this, may be fined between 22 thousand 807 liras and 228 thousand 71 liras.

DOUBLE PENALTY FOR DELAYED PAYMENTS!

For an e-commerce intermediary service provider that does not make payments within the specified time, a fine equal to the unpaid amount may be applied for delays of up to 30 days, with a minimum of 22 thousand 807 liras, and a fine of twice the unpaid amount may be applied for delays exceeding 30 days.

In addition, despite a warning issued by the Ministry, an electronic commerce intermediary service provider that fails to ensure that the provisions of the brokerage agreement are clear, understandable, or easily accessible will be fined 22 thousand 807 liras for each violation.

INTERMEDIARY SERVICE PROVIDER WILL PAY A 1 TRILLION FINE IF IT DOES THIS

The administrative fine to be applied to an intermediary service provider that forces a service provider to sell goods or services on campaign, including making unilateral changes to the sales price of the product, will be 1 trillion 140 million 357 thousand 390 liras.

The administrative fine imposed on an intermediary service provider that demotes a service provider in the ranking or recommendation system, restricts, suspends, or terminates the service provided, despite there being no objective criteria in the brokerage agreement or on the grounds that the service provider has applied to public institutions or judicial authorities, will be increased to 684 thousand 214 liras.

The lower limit of the administrative fine to be applied to persons who do not submit the information, documents, books, and electronic records requested by the Ministry, and to real and private legal entities that do not report the requested information to the Electronic Commerce Information System for the purpose of monitoring and evaluating the development of electronic commerce, has been updated to 114 thousand 35 liras, and the upper limit to 570 thousand liras.

22 MILLION FINE FOR THOSE WHO DO NOT OBTAIN A LICENSE FROM THE MINISTRY!

An administrative fine of 22 million 807 thousand 147 liras will be applied to electronic commerce intermediary service providers and electronic commerce service providers that do not obtain a license from the Ministry or do not renew their license. A period of 60 days will be granted to remedy the violation.

If the violation is not eliminated within this period, a fine of 45 million 614 thousand 295 liras will be imposed, and a period of 30 days will be granted to remedy the violation. If the violation is not eliminated within the 30-day period, the fine amount will increase to 91 million 228 thousand 591 liras.

An additional 15 days will be granted to remedy the violation. If the violation is not remedied within the specified periods, the Ministry may decide to remove the content or block access to the relevant internet addresses of the service providers.

IN EFFECT AS OF JANUARY 1

The new penalties were announced by being published in the Official Gazette. The communiqué will enter into force on January 1, 2025.