Rejection from the Constitutional Court for the cancellation of the e-Commerce Law
The Constitutional Court, which addressed the request for the annulment of some provisions of the Law No. 7416, which made some changes in the Law No. 6563 on the Regulation of Electronic Commerce, decided to reject the request for annulment.
Among the articles that were requested to be canceled on the grounds of “contrary to the principle of equality of the Constitution” were the obligations of the electronic commerce intermediary service provider and the provisions regarding the electronic commerce license.
The rationale for the decision of the Constitutional Court will be written later.
Criticisms of the law were voiced about e-commerce license fees, high administrative fines, advertising limit on marketplaces, ban on e-money and payment services.
Added new terms and concepts
The law on e-commerce was published in the Official Gazette on July 7 last year and entered into force on January 1, 2023.
With the Law on the Amendment of the Law on the Regulation of Electronic Commerce, which has been criticized by stating that competition will disappear in the sector and that electronic commerce will disrupt the ecosystem around it, and related parties will suffer irreparable damages, unfair competition and monopolization in electronic commerce (e-commerce) will be prevented, facilitating the entry of new actors to the market, ensuring a balanced market. It was arranged for e-commerce tool service providers and e-commerce service providers, taking into account the scales, in order to ensure a healthy and healthy growth.
According to the law, businesses operating in the fields of travel agency, civil aviation, private pension, banking, insurance, financing, capital market, payment services, betting and games of chance, and electronic communication will not be accepted as e-commerce intermediary service providers or e-commerce service providers. .
With the Law, new terms and concepts were added to the Law on the Regulation of Electronic Commerce.
Intermediary service providers that enable the conclusion of contracts or placing orders for the supply of goods or services of other electronic commerce service providers, regardless of whether they sell in the e-commerce marketplace, are “electronic commerce intermediary service providers”; Service providers that make contracts for the supply of their own goods or services or receive orders, whether in the e-commerce marketplace or in their own e-commerce environment, will be defined as “electronic commerce service providers”.
The definitions of “e-commerce marketplace” and “e-commerce environment” will be added to the law in order to provide certainty regarding the e-commerce environment in which the e-commerce intermediary service provider provides intermediary services.
Net transaction volume will include the sum of the final invoice or invoice substitute document values, including all taxes, funds, fees and the like.
Complaints and objections; The clear identity and address information of those concerned, information about the product in dispute, the reasons for the removal or necessity of publishing the product, and other issues determined by the regulation will be included. The right of those concerned to apply to the judicial and administrative authorities according to the general provisions will be reserved.
The authority of the Ministry of Commerce to “protect an effective and fair competition environment”
The Ministry of Commerce will be authorized to ensure the development of e-commerce, to maintain an effective and fair competition environment, and to regulate the activities of service providers and intermediary service providers.
In order to ensure the implementation of the law, the Ministry will be authorized to conduct audits and announce the results of the audit, to appoint an expert in cases that require special expertise or technical knowledge during the audit, to determine the rights and obligations of the expert and the procedures and principles regarding the assignment.
