The Amendment to the Electronic Commerce Law Published in the Official Gazette. So what does the law change involve?

The Law No. 6563 on Amending the Law on the Regulation of Electronic Commerce ((hereinafter referred to as the “Amendment of Law”) was enacted by being published in the Official Gazette on 07/07/2022 (For the full text of the Law Amendment, see RG. Number 31889, https ://www.resmigazete.gov.tr/eskiler/2022/07/20220707-2.htm) The Law No. 6563 on the Regulation of Electronic Commerce, which is the basic law of electronic commerce located in the middle of information and commercial law (hereinafter “Law”). A new one has been added to the changes made since 2014. However, considering the EU regulations, it seems likely that new changes will be made in the near future.

It is understood that the Law Amendment of 7 July 2022 aims to keep electronic commerce marketplaces under control, especially by bringing some obligations on the way to monopoly. On the other hand, the effective date of the Law Amendment is 01.01.2023 and 01.01.2024, which shows that there is a tendency to give time to electronic marketplaces.

NEW DEFINITIONS HAVE BEEN INSTALLED TO APPLY SPECIAL OBLIGATIONS

With the Law Amendment, the concepts of “electronic commerce instrument service provider” (hereinafter referred to as “ETAHS”) and electronic commerce service provider “(hereinafter referred to as “ETHS”) have been defined as innovations. In the pre-amendment Law, the concepts of “service provider” and “intermediate service provider” were defined. In addition, the concepts of “electronic commerce environment” and “electronic commerce marketplace” have been added to the definitions section. Therefore, the way for electronic commerce actors to be subject to a special obligation is opened with “definitions”.

The terms added to the “Definitions” section of the law amendment are as follows:

Electronic commerce intermediary service provider: As an intermediary service provider that enables the conclusion of contracts or placing orders for the supply of goods or services of electronic commerce service providers in the electronic commerce marketplace,

Electronic commerce service provider: A service provider that makes a contract or receives an order for the supply of goods or services in the electronic commerce marketplace or in its own electronic commerce environment,

Electronic commerce environment: Platforms such as the website, mobile site or mobile application where electronic commerce activities are carried out,

Electronic commerce marketplace: The electronic commerce environment in which the electronic commerce intermediary service provider offers its brokerage services,

[expresses].

However, in the Law Amendment, enterprises operating in the fields of travel agency, civil aviation, private pension, banking, insurance, financing, capital market, payment services (including open banking) and electronic money, betting and gambling and electronic communication are considered as ETAHS or ETHS. has been specially arranged.

E-COMMERCE ACTORS ARE OBLIGED TO LICENSE

The most striking point of the Law Amendment is the obligation to obtain a license for ETAHS and ETHSs above a certain size. Some thresholds have been set in terms of licensing conditions. These thresholds are cases where the net transaction volume in a calendar year is over ten billion Turkish liras and the number of transactions excluding “AND” cancellations/refunds exceeds one hundred thousand. The authority authorized to issue the said license is the Ministry of Customs and Trade. The electronic commerce license fee will be determined at varying rates according to the net transaction volume of the relevant institutions and will have to be renewed every year. In this way, a large share of electronic commerce is reserved for the public. The said rates may seem low at first glance, but it is understood that they are higher than the penalty limit that some supervisory and regulatory institutions can impose.

THE CONCEPT OF “UNFORGETTABLE COMMERCIAL PRACTICES IN ELECTRONIC COMMERCE” IS INCLUDED IN THE LAW

Unfair commercial practices are prohibited in electronic commerce, the definition of which is given in Additional Article 1 introduced by the Law Amendment. According to the Law Amendment, the practices of the electronic commerce intermediary service provider, which significantly impairs the commercial activities of the electronic commerce service provider, to which it provides intermediary services, reduces its ability to make a reasonable decision, or causes it to become a party to a commercial relationship that it would not normally be a party to, by forcing it to take a certain decision, are considered to be unfair.

Apart from this definition, unfair commercial practices in e-commerce are exemplified, but not limitedly. These situations are:

a) The payment to be made to the electronic commerce service provider in return for the sale of goods or services is not made in full within five working days from the latest the sale price is at the disposal of the electronic commerce tool service provider and the order reaches the buyer.
b) One-sided change in the sales price by the electronic commerce tool service provider