The Ministry of Trade (“Ministry”) published the Regulation on Market Surveillance and Inspection of Products Offered through Remote Communication Tools (“Regulation“) in the Official Gazette dated 30 October 2024. This Regulation outlines the procedures and principles applicable to placing products on the market and sales advertisements for products offered or made available on the market via remote communication tools such as telephone, email, television, and the internet. It also specifies the obligations of economic operators and various service providers that place or make available such products on the market.
The Regulation is particularly significant as it concerns all individuals and entities, large or small, placing products to the Turkish market via one of the most active marketing channels today, the internet.
Product Placement on the Turkish Market
Economic operators are considered to be targetting end users residing in Turkey and thus deemed to place products on or make them available in the Turkish market if they provide at least one of the following options for sales conducted via remote communication tools:
- A Turkish language option is provided,
- Turkish Lira currency option is provided,
- Payments in Turkish Lira are accepted,
- A shipping option to Turkey is provided,
- Physical delivery to end-users in Turkey is available,
- For online sales, the domain is registered in geographic areas where shipment to Turkey is possible.
According to the Regulation, products offered or made available in the Turkish market via remote communication tools must comply with relevant technical regulations or the General Product Safety Regulation. This includes promotional items provided during sales.
Obligation to Provide Product Information in Sales Advertisements
In sales advertisements for products offered or made available on the market via remote communication tools, the name, title, and contact information of the manufacturer or importer based in Turkey must be included, if available. Otherwise, for products listed under the legislation published by the Ministry, the name, title, and contact information of the authorized representative based in Turkey who has been appointed in writing by the manufacturer must be included. If that is also not available, the name, title, and contact information of the service provider (who may also be classified as a distributor or manufacturer according to their activities under the Regulation) must be provided.
Additionally, all identifying information, warnings, safety information, and certification marks that are required to be affixed to the product according to relevant technical regulations must also be presented in Turkish.
Requirement for an Economic Operator to be based in Turkey
For a product listed in the legislation published by the Ministry to be offered or made available on the market via remote communication tools, the manufacturer, importer, or authorized representative must be based in Turkey. If none of these individuals or entities are located in Turkey, a service provider based in Turkey must be designated. If none of these economic operators—manufacturer, importer, authorized representative, or service provider—are based in Turkey, it will not be possible to offer such a product to the Turkish market via remote communication tools.
Summary of Service Providers’ Obligations
Under the Regulation, service providers are defined as individuals or entities that do not acquire ownership of the product but provide at least two of the following services related to the product during their commercial activities,: storage, packaging, addressing, and transportation.
If there is no manufacturer, importer, or authorized representative based in Turkey, the Regulation requires the service provider to actively collaborate with competent authorities to ensure compliance with the Regulation and other relevant legislation.
As for the activities of the Service Providers:
- If their activities do not affect the product’s safety and they are not classified as a manufacturer, importer, or authorized representative, they are considered “distributors” and are held responsible for the obligations of distributors under the technical regulations.
- If they affix their own brand or name to the product, modify the product in a way that affects its compliance with relevant technical regulations, or if their activities impact the product’s safety, they are considered “manufacturers” and are held responsible for the obligations of manufacturers under the technical regulations.
Summary of Intermediary Service Providers’ Obligations
The Regulation imposes significant roles to intermediary service providers in ensuring market surveillance and inspection.
Intermediary service providers are obliged to arrange their online interfaces in compliance with the legislation, and to designate a product safety contact point to swiftly address product safety concerns raised by competent authorities or end users and facilitate direct communication with them. They are also obliged to act promptly upon becoming aware of any product non-compliance and notify both the authorities and end users. Additionally, they must respond within 24 hours to any removal requests related to non-compliant products issued by the relevant authorities.
Intermediary service providers are considered “economic operators” if, in addition to facilitating electronic commerce platforms for the placement or availability of third-party products on the market, they also perform the roles of manufacturers, importers, authorized representatives, distributors, or service providers.
Conclusion
The Regulation establishes compliance requirements for products offered or made available in the Turkish market via remote communication tools. Coming into effect on 1 April 2025, this Regulation is critical for entities to assess their compliance with the new requirements and align their operations with the legislation. Failure to comply may result in penalties and difficulties in accessing the Turkish market.
