The Law on the Amendment of the Law on Consumer Protection and the Property Ownership Law Has Been Published

The Law on the Amendment of the Law on Consumer Protection and the Property Ownership Law entered into force after being published in the Official Gazette dated April 1, 2022 and numbered 31796. The changes are briefly as follows:

• In consumer loans, in case of early payment of the entire loan debt within the right of withdrawal period, the provisions of the right of withdrawal can be applied without any notification.
• It will be obligatory to deliver the prepaid house to the consumer within the time period committed in the contract. In any case, this period cannot exceed 48 months from the date of the contract.
• Prepaid timeshare vacation contracts cannot be established with consumers, including contracts granting timeshare rights.
• Without the prejudice to the rights of the parties in the Bankruptcy and Enforcement Law (In Turkish); in disputes with a value of less than 30,000 Turkish Liras, it will be mandatory to apply to consumer arbitration committees.

The amendment also imposes significant additional obligations on intermediary service providers known as marketplaces. With the amendment intermediary service providers will be responsible for;

• Jointly and severally with the vendor and provider, from the provision of preliminary information to the consumer, its confirmation and proof,
• Deficiencies in the obligatory matters to be informed beforehand, determined in the regulation with the exception of cases where data entry is made by the vendor or supplier,
• Keeping the records of the transactions of the consumers with the vendors or suppliers due to regulations in Article 48 of the Law on Consumer Protection No. 6502 (In Turkish), and providing these records to the relevant public institutions and organizations and consumers, if requested,
• Transactions that cause vendors and providers to act in violation of the provisions of this article due to practices contrary to the contract with the vendor and the provider regarding the intermediary service,
• In the event that a price is collected on behalf of the vendor or the supplier, jointly and severally with the vendor or the supplier from the obligations regarding the right of withdrawal with delivery or performance; except for the cases where the price is transferred to the vendor or the supplier after the delivery or performance of goods and services to the consumer, and the use of the optional rights in the 11th and 15th Articles of the Law on Consumer Protection No.6502,
• In case of sales with campaigns, promotions or discounts organized without the approval of the vendor or the supplier, the contract is not fulfilled at all properly,
• They will be responsible for the compatibility and proof of the issues in the preliminary information and the information in the advertisements,
• Besides these, intermediary service providers will be obliged to establish and keep open a convenient system where consumers can easily convey their notifications and demands regarding the issues determined in the regulation regarding distance sales agreements and follow up their applications.

The Law on the Amendment of the Law on Consumer Protection and the Property Ownership Law will enter into force six months later, although it has reserved some provisions. You can find the details of the Law here (In Turkish).

Should you have any queries or need further details, please contact your customer representative.