Ministry of Commerce fines e-commerce companies

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Lerato Khumalo

The Ministry of Trade decided to impose administrative fines of 230 million lira in the first half of the year on 40 e-commerce companies that victimized consumers.

In a statement made by the Ministry, it was stated that distance sales, whose share and importance in retail trade is increasing, have become indispensable for consumers as they are an easy, quick and practical shopping method, but issues such as not being able to physically see and check the products subject to the contract in such purchases and not being able to establish face-to-face communication with the seller make consumers more vulnerable to exploitation.

In the statement, it was pointed out that the full and accurate information of consumers in these purchases, as well as the rights of withdrawal from the contract and product delivery are of importance, and it was conveyed that these issues are safeguarded by the Distance Contracts Regulation.

The statement drew attention to the applications received from consumers to the Ministry this year and included the following statements:

“In order to ensure the protection of the economic interests of consumers, our Ministry has conducted examinations and inspections on issues where consumer grievances are concentrated, especially order cancellations made on the grounds that the product is not in stock without the knowledge and approval of the consumer, non-delivery of purchased products within the period specified in the legislation, and non-refunds of contracts terminated by consumers due to non-compliance with these periods. In this context, administrative fines of approximately 230 million liras were imposed on 40 companies out of 42 companies inspected in the first half of 2024, which were detected to have practices contrary to the legislation.”

EVALUATED WITHIN THE SCOPE OF FRAUD

The statement stated that the activities of 7 companies were evaluated within the scope of the fraud crime included in the relevant articles of the Turkish Penal Code within the scope of the inspections and the following was noted:

“7 additional investigation reports were prepared in addition to the investigation reports and submitted to the relevant chief public prosecutor’s offices. As has been the case until now, our Ministry will continue to conduct effective, intensive and widespread inspections within the framework of the Law and the Distance Contracts Regulation in order to protect consumer rights and prevent unfair competition.”