The Ministry of Commerce increased the administrative fines to be applied in case of violation of the principles determined in electronic commerce (e-commerce) by the revaluation rate.
The Ministry’s “Communiqué on Administrative Fines to be Implemented in 2025 According to Article 12 of the Law on the Regulation of Electronic Commerce” was published in the Official Gazette.
With the notification, the administrative fines regulated in the relevant law were increased and re-determined according to the 43.93 percent determined as the revaluation rate for 2024.
Accordingly, the intermediary service provider who engages in practices that significantly disrupt the commercial activities or economic behavior of the e-commerce service provider, makes unilateral changes to the provisions of the intermediary contract to the detriment of the service provider, or includes any provision in the contract that allows this, will be fined between 22 thousand 807 liras and 228 liras. A fine of 1,071 liras may be imposed.
An e-commerce intermediary service provider who does not make payment within the due date may be subject to a penalty of not less than 22 thousand 807 liras, equal to the unpaid amount for periods up to 30 days, and twice the unpaid amount for periods exceeding 30 days.
In addition, the electronic commerce intermediary service provider who does not ensure that the provisions of the intermediary contract are clear, understandable or easily accessible despite the warning made by the Ministry will be fined 22 thousand 807 liras for each violation.
The administrative fine to be imposed on the intermediary service provider who forces the service provider to sell promotional goods or services, including unilateral changes in the sales price of the product, will be 1 trillion 140 million 357 thousand 390 liras.
The administrative fine imposed on the intermediary service provider who reduces the service provider in the ranking or recommendation system, restricts, suspends or terminates the service provided, even though no objective criterion is included in the intermediary contract or on the grounds that an application has been made to public institutions or judicial authorities, will be increased to 684 thousand 214 liras.
The lower limit of the administrative fine to be applied for persons who do not submit the information, documents and books, electronic records requested by the Ministry, and natural and private law legal persons who do not report the requested information to the Electronic Commerce Information System in order to monitor and evaluate the development of electronic commerce is 114 thousand 35 liras, and the upper limit is 114 thousand 35 liras. The limit has been updated to 570 thousand lira.
An administrative fine of 22 million 807 thousand 147 liras will be imposed on electronic commerce intermediary service providers and electronic commerce service providers who do not obtain a license from the Ministry or do not renew their license. A period of 60 days will be given to correct the discrepancy. If the violation is not eliminated within this period, a fine of 45 million 614 thousand 295 lira will be imposed and 30 days will be given to eliminate the violation. If the violation is not eliminated within 30 days, the penalty amount will increase to 91 million 228 thousand 591 lira. An additional period of 15 days will be given to resolve the discrepancy. If the violation is not resolved within the specified period, the Ministry may decide to remove the content or block access to the relevant internet addresses of the service providers.
The Communiqué will enter into force on January 1, 2025.
