The Regulation on the Electronic Commerce Intermediary Service Providers and Electronic Commerce Service Providers ("Regulation") has been published in the Official Gazette dated 29.12.2022 and numbered 32058. With the Regulation, the procedures and principles regarding the implementation of the Law numbered 7416 Regarding the Amendment to the Law on Regulation of Electronic Commerce ("Amending Law") which was published in the Official Gazette dated 07.07.2022 and numbered 31889 have been regulated.

It is stipulated that the purpose of the Regulation is to determine the procedures and principles for the activities and inspections of electronic commerce intermediary service providers and electronic commerce service providers, and the regulation of commercial relations between them to establish an effective and fair competition environment and ensure the development of electronic commerce. In addition, the Regulation covers the obligations of electronic commerce intermediary service providers and electronic commerce service providers, unfair commercial practices in electronic commerce, illegal content, intermediation agreements, electronic commerce license and other issues related to electronic commerce, in general terms. Within the scope of this article, the electronic commerce intermediary service providers' ("ECISP") obligations stipulated under the Regulation will be evaluated.

An electronic commerce intermediary service provider is defined as "an intermediary service provider which 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." In addition, ECISPs are classified as medium, large, or very large scale according to their net transaction volumes in a calendar year and the number of their transactions.

In the following sections, the obligations imposed on the ECISPs will be discussed in general, as well as in relevance to their classifications as medium, large or very large scale.

  1. OBLIGATION TO PROVIDE INFORMATION AND VERIFICATION

ECISPs are obliged to keep the information below in a way that can be accessed directly on the home page of the electronic commerce marketplace and under the communication heading.

  • Trade name, MERSIS number and headquarters address for the merchant; name and surname, tax identification number and head office address for tradesmen and craftsmen.
  • KEP address, e-mail address, telephone number and, if any, business name and registered trademark.
  • Information about the professional chamber to which it is a member, the rules of conduct related to the profession and how to access them electronically.

Necessary technical facilities must be provided to display and update the information regarding the Electronic Commerce Service Provider ("ECSP") operating in the electronic commerce marketplace in the area allocated to it. The information is as follows.

  • At least one of the trade name, business name or registered trademark information.
  • KEP address.
  • Tax identification number for tradesmen and craftsmen, MERSIS number for merchants.

The above-mentioned information and the central address, e-mail address and telephone number information which ECSP is obliged to provide to the ECISP must be verified on the electronic systems of the relevant institutions that are open to access or, if this is not possible, these must be verified through the documents obtained from ECSP. Intermediary services should not be provided to ECSP which do not verify this information. Within the scope of the Regulation, ECISPs are obliged to keep the introductory information of ECSP, for which they provide intermediary services, up to date, and the accuracy of the introductory information of ECSP must be checked within the first three months of each calendar year. If it is determined that this information is not up to date, the ECISO must notify the ECSP via the internal communication system and update the information by giving a maximum of three working days. ECSPs, which do not update their introductory information within the given period, should only be offered intermediary services for existing orders until said information is updated.

It is important to note that ECISPs shall be able to fulfil this verification obligation until 01.01.2024 for the ECSPs for which they provided intermediary services before 01.01.2023.

In addition, there is an obligation to designate at least one natural or legal person who will allow public institutions and organizations to communicate directly, and to notify the Ministry of Trade of this person's contact information via the Electronic Trade Information Platform ("ETBIS").

  1. OBLIGATIONS RELATED TO THE ORDER

ECISP should ensure that:

  • second-hand goods are offered for sale in a separate category,
  • the total price to be paid by the buyer, including taxes and delivery costs, and other terms of the contract are clear to the buyer at the stage of order confirmation and before entering the payment information,
  • the information on the total price of the goods or services, the procedure for calculating the price and, if the delivery costs cannot be determined in advance, the information that additional costs may be payable,
  • technical tools such as "order form summary" and "undo" to enable the buyer to identify and correct errors in data entry before confirming the order,
  • these matters are provided to the buyer physically or electronically so that the provisions of the contract can be revisited, used in printed form, and stored by the buyer.

The ECISP is required to notify the buyer without delay that the order has been received, via the electronic commerce environment where the transaction is made, and also by at least one of the means such as e-mail, text message or phone call. The order and confirmation of receipt of the order shall be deemed to have taken place as soon as the parties are able to access the aforementioned statements.

It should be noted that the ECISP is not responsible for the content offered by the ECSP and the illegal matters relating to the goods or services subject to the content unless there is a contrary provision in other laws. However, if the ECISP is aware that the content presented by the ECSP is illegal, the ECISP should remove this content without delay, not exceeding forty-eight hours, and report the illegal content to the ECSP and relevant public institutions and organizations with its justification.

It should be cognizant of if the Ministry of Trade or in matters falling within their scope of duty other public institutions and organizations report illegal content, it will be deemed that the ECISP is aware of the illegal content.

  1. UNFAIR COMMERCIAL PRACTICE

It is stated in the Regulation that practices which significantly disrupt the commercial activities of ECSPs, which receive intermediary services, reduce ECSPs ability to make a reasonable decision, or force the ESCPs to take a certain decision, causing the ECSP to become a party to a commercial relationship that the ECSP would not be a party to under normal circumstances, will be considered unfair practice.

According to the Regulation, the following will be considered unfair commercial practices in all cases:

  • Failure to make the payment required to be made to the ECSP for the sale of goods or services in full within five business days from the date on which the product sales price is at the disposal of the ECISP and the order reaches the buyer. (Payments made to the payment service provider with which the ECISP is economically integrated shall be deemed to have been made to ECISP).
  • The entire product sales price is considered paid in the event that the ECISP pays the ECSP by offsetting its outstanding receivables arising from the intermediary service or the payment amounts made on behalf of the ECSP pursuant to judicial or administrative authority decisions,
  • In instalment sales, the relevant instalment amount is considered paid in full only when the due instalment is paid,
  • In the event that the ECISP takes the product sales price into its disposition by undertaking the cost of the product sales price before the blocking period in the merchant agreement with the payment service provider, this price is deemed be at the disposal of the ECISP at the end of the blocking period in the agreement, or if the blocking period is not determined by the merchant agreement, on the day the price is in disposition of the ECISP.

This rule shall not apply if the ECISP postpones or suspends payments to the ECSP for purposes such as preventing unlawful activities and fulfilling obligations arising from legislation.

  • Forcing the ECSP to sell promotional goods or services, including unilateral changes to the sales price by the ECISP.
  • The terms of the commercial relationship with the ECSP are not set out in an intermediation agreement in writing or electronically, are not clear and understandable, or are not stored in the internal communication system so that they can later be accessed by the ECSP.
  • Retroactive or unilateral amendments to the provisions of the intermediation agreement to the detriment of the ECSP, or the inclusion of any provision in the intermediation agreement that allows this.
  • Charging a fee to an ECSP where no service is provided or the type of service provided, and the amount or rate of the service fee are not specified in the intermediation agreement.
  • Downgrading of the ECSP in the ranking or recommendation system; restriction, suspension or termination of the service provided to the ECSP where no objective criteria are included in the intermediation agreement or on the grounds that an application has been made to public or judicial authorities.
  • Determination of right to withdrawal periods by ECISP, exceeding the periods specified in the Law on the Protection of Consumers dated 07.11.2013 and numbered 6502, without the prior approval of ECSP.
  • Untrue or misleading statements and notifications made by ECISP to ECSP about its products and activities.
  1. INTELLECTUAL AND INDUSTRIAL PROPERTY VIOLATION

Complaint applications for violation of intellectual and industrial property rights should be made to the ECISP, including the following issues, through the internal communication system, notary public or KEP.

  • The registration certificate showing the right ownership issued by the Turkish Patent and Trademark Office or the bandrol form issued by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism or the activity certificate for professional associations within the scope of the Law on Intellectual and Artistic Works dated 05.12.1951 and numbered 5846.
  • If the complainant is a natural person, his/her name, surname, T.C. identification number, address information, e-mail address and KEP address if any. If it is a legal person, its title, address information, e-mail address, and KEP address if any. In case of a complaint as a proxy, the aforementioned information of the attorney and the document showing that the attorney is authorized to represent.
  • Reasons and evidence that the product subject to the complaint violates intellectual and industrial property rights.
  • Internet address that shows the product subject to the complaint.
  • A statement by the applicant that the applicant is responsible for the damages that may arise if the information and documents submitted within the scope of the complaint application contradict the truth.

Applications that do not contain the above-mentioned issues should not be processed by the ECISP and the ECISP should inform the applicant regarding the incompleteness. The ECISP is obliged to remove the product subject to the complaint from publication and notify the ECSP and the right holder of the situation without delay, not exceeding forty-eight hours from the receipt of the complaint application. In the notification made to the ECSP, the methods of appealing the complaint application should be specified. Notifications within the scope of this can be made through the internal communication system.

If it is clearly understood from the above information and documents that the ECSP is right in its objection, the ECISP is obliged to republish the product subject to the complaint within twenty-four hours from the receipt of the objection application by the ECISP and notify the situation to the right owner and the ECSP without delay. The ECISP should not process the complaint applications regarding the same product and claim and notify the applicant of this situation unless new documents proving the intellectual and industrial property rights violation are submitted. The examination to be carried out by the ECISP should be limited only to the examination of the information and documents obtained from the ECSP.

  1. INTERMEDIATION AGREEMENTS

The terms of the commercial relationship to be concluded between the ECISP and the ECSP shall be determined in written form or through an intermediation agreement made in an electronic environment. With the Regulation, the minimum elements that must be included in this intermediation agreement are regulated.

Notification regarding the amendments to the intermediation agreement must be made to the ECSP via the internal communication system or via the approved electronic communication address. Unless a longer period is determined by the ECISP within the scope of the intermediation agreement, the amendments are put into effect at the end of the fifteen-day period from the notification date. This period is thirty days in cases requiring technical development by the ECSP, increasing commission rates and other service fees, restricting, suspending, or terminating the intermediary service, introducing new penal clauses for the ECSP, and disrupting the balance of rights and benefits in detriment of the ECSP.

The ECISP, in accordance with the Regulation; may not restrict, suspend, or terminate the intermediary service, except for the objective criteria included in the intermediation agreement. According to the Regulation, in the event that there are situations that require the restriction, suspension or termination of the intermediary service specified in the intermediation agreement, the ECISP must request an explanation from the ECSP by stating its reasons clearly and understandably and must give the ECSP at least three working days to submit its explanation. The ECISP may restrict, suspend, or terminate the intermediary service if the ECSP's disclosures are insufficient or if the ECSP does not provide clarification. In this case, the ECISP must notify the ECSP of its decision within seven business days from the date on which the statement is received or if the ECSP does not provide a statement at the end of three business days granted for disclosure. The intermediation agreement shall be deemed terminated on the date of notification of termination.

In the event that the ECISP revokes the restriction or suspension decision, or re-enters an intermediation agreement with the ECSP, the ECISP must promptly allow the ECSP to regain access to information on the electronic commerce marketplace to which it had previously accessed.

It is important to point out that the ECISP may immediately restrict, suspend, or terminate the intermediary service for reasons arising from legislation or in cases involving public order, delays or fraud, data breach or other cyber security risks. In this case, the ECISP must promptly notify the ECSP of the reason for the restriction, suspension, or termination.

In this context, notifications must be made through the internal communication system and also through one of the approved electronic communication addresses, and the disclosure of the ECSP must be made through the internal communication system.

  1. DATA USE AND DATA SHARING

Some rules have also been introduced within the scope of the data obtained by medium, large and very large scale ECISPs. In this context, medium, large, and very large scale ECISPs; may be able to use the data obtained from the ECSP or the buyer only to provide and improve the intermediary service, excluding publicly available data and may not be able to use the data obtained from the intermediary service when it is an ECSP or while competing with other ECSPs through the ECSP has economic integrity with.

In addition, ECISPs are obliged to provide the technical opportunity for ECSPs to carry their (i) sales and refund data, properties, descriptions, images, questions, answers, and evaluations of ECSP products, (ii) most preferred product data periodically, for special days, categorical basis and product basis, in case the ECISP keeps this data, such as buyers' gender, age group, province and district distribution and purchase day and time data, evaluation score of the performance of the ECSP and (iii) the singularized number given to the products of the ECSP by the ECISP that is used to distinguish the products in the electronic commerce marketplace, free of charge and effectively and to access these data within the term of the intermediation agreement.

In addition, the ECISP must respond to the ECSP's data access and data transfer requests within fifteen days by anonymizing the buyer information.

  1. OTHER OBLIGATIONS

The ECISP must receive applications made by the ECSP through its internal communication system. Unless otherwise stated in the Regulation, the applications made by the ECSP through the system must be finalized within fifteen days from the date of receipt of the application and the result must be notified to the ECSP through the system. The ECISP is obliged to store the intermediation agreement in its internal communication system so that it is easily accessible by the ECSP. The ECISP is obliged to provide the technical means for the information contained in the internal communication system to be viewed by the personnel assigned by the Ministry of Trade. These obligations regarding internal communication system shall enter into force as of 01.07.2023.

In electronic commerce marketplaces where the ECISP provides intermediary services, the ECISP cannot offer for sale or mediate the sale of goods bearing the trademark of the ECISP or persons with whom ECISP is in economic integrity with, regardless of who the manufacturer is, or goods for which ECISP has the right to use the trademark. In the event that these goods are offered for sale in different electronic commerce platform, the ECISP cannot provide access between these platforms and cannot promote such platforms. This obligation shall enter into force as of 01.01.2024.

This provision shall not apply in the following cases:

  • Products bearing the trademark of persons who obtain more than half of their total sales revenue from sales other than electronic commerce, or products for which these persons have the right to use the trademark.
  • Devices the hardware and software of which exclusively enable the reading, listening and use of digital copies of periodicals such as magazines and newspapers and electronic books.

In order for the ECISP or the ECSP to engage in marketing activities in online search engines by placing advertisements on keywords that consist of registered trademarks that constitute the main element of domain names registered in ETBIS in the name of persons with whom the ECISP or the ECSP is not in economic integrity, the ECISP or the ECSP must first obtain their affirmative declaration of will in writing or electronically.

In addition to these obligations, the Regulation imposes separate obligations on medium, large, and very large scale ECISPs.

Medium, large, and very large scale ECSPs and ECISPs shall not be able to provide access to and promote each other in electronic commerce environments belonging to themselves or to persons with whom they have economic integrity with, except for electronic commerce environments included in the net transaction volume.

Medium, large and very large scale ECISPs are obliged to notify ETBIS (i) within one month from the date of the transfer or acquisition being recorded in the shared ledger in case of a transfer or acquisition of shares by shareholders of the company reaching five per cent and multiples thereof, excluding dematerialized shares and (ii) within one month following the registration of the establishment in the trade registry in case of establishment and the date of the transfer in the shared ledger in case of transfer, where the ECISP establishes a company, acquires shares of an established company or transfers said shares.

Within the scope of the Regulation, medium, large and very large-scale ECISPs must enable the conduct of audits pertaining to the previous calendar year by an independent audit firm authorized pursuant to the Capital Markets Law numbered 6362 and submit the audit report to the Ministry of Trade within April of each calendar year. In addition, with respect to the content provided by the ECSP, ECISPs are obliged to conduct an annual inspection in order to determine the issues contrary to the Law on the Regulation of Electronic Commerce numbered 6563, Consumer Protection Law numbered 6502, Personal Data Protection Law numbered 6698, the Law on Intellectual and Artistic Works numbered 5846, Industrial Property Law numbered 6769 and the regulations enacted on the basis of these Laws, and to send the report on the inspection to the Ministry of Trade in April of the following calendar year.

Very large scale ECISPs cannot engage in goods transportation activities within the scope of the Road Transport Law numbered 4925, transportation business organizer activities within the scope of the Decree Law numbered 655 on Certain Regulations Regarding the Field of Transportation and Infrastructure and the Regulation on Transportation Business Organizers, and postal service provider activities within the scope of the Postal Services Law numbered 6475; except for sales in electronic commerce marketplaces where the ECISP provides intermediary services, sales made by the ECISP as an ECSP and sales outside of electronic commerce.

According to the Regulation, very large scale ECISPs cannot provide the following services or facilitate the provision of such services by persons with whom they have economic integrity with, in their electronic commerce marketplaces:

(i) services related to the realization of all kinds of services offered by banks with which it has economic integrity or companies within the scope of the Law on Leasing, Factoring and Financing Companies numbered 6361, including lending transactions, except for credit payment transactions made with credit cards and other payment transactions within the scope of the Bank Cards and Credit Cards Law numbered 5464,

(ii) services related to the acceptance of electronic currencies issued by electronic money institutions within the scope of the Law on Payment and Securities Settlement Systems, Payment Services and Electronic Money Institutions numbered 6493 ("Law No. 6493") and,

(iii) services related to instruments that are outside the scope of Law No. 6493 pursuant to subparagraph (h) of the second paragraph of Article 12 and the fifth paragraph of Article 18 of Law No. 6493.

The Regulation will determine which situations will be considered as advertising expenditures within the scope of the implementation of the legislation, while the advertising budgets of ECISPs exceeding certain limits will be restricted to eliminate the negativities caused by excessive advertising activities.

It is stated that the costs incurred by the ECISPs on behalf of the buyers and the ECSP, and the costs incurred by the ECSP on behalf of the recipients, promotions, rewards, points, coupons, gift vouchers and similar opportunities and other economic benefits provided to them shall be evaluated within the discount budget.

ECISPs are required to keep the information, documents, books and electronic records regarding their business and transactions within the scope of the Law on the Regulation of Electronic Commerce numbered 6563 for ten years from the date of the business or transaction and to submit them to the Ministry of Trade upon request.

  1. ELECTRONIC COMMERCE LICENSE

In order to enable new businesses entering the market to compete under equal conditions, to prevent businesses of a certain size from operating in a way that disrupts free market conditions, and to bring businesses operating in the electronic commerce sector under public supervision and control, the obligation to obtain and renew licenses has been imposed on ECISPs that fulfil certain conditions. It is aimed to improve competition conditions in the market by exempting ECISPs that fall below the specified conditions from the license application.

The obligation regarding license acquisition and renewal applications will enter into force as of 01.01.2025.

  1. ADAPTATION PROCESS AND ENFORCEMENT

a. ADAPTATION PROCESS

The relevant provisions of the intermediation agreements concluded before 01.01.2023 and not updated in accordance with this Regulation within six months following this date shall be deemed invalid.

Transactions envisaged to be made through the internal communication system under the Regulation may be made through technical means such as electronic mail until 01.07.2023.

b ENFORCEMENT

All provisions of the Regulation that do not specify a different enforcement date shall enter into force as of 01.01.2023.

  1. SANCTIONS

In case of the stated violations, the following administrative fees shall be imposed:

  • From ten thousand Turkish liras to one hundred thousand Turkish liras for each violation for those who do not comply with the secondary regulations, including the Regulation, pursuant to Article 12 of the Law on the Regulation of Electronic Commerce titled "Criminal Provisions,"
  • From fifty thousand Turkish liras to two hundred and fifty thousand Turkish liras for those who violate the obligation to provide the information, documents, books and electronic records requested by the personnel assigned by the audit, to provide the information, documents, books and electronic records and their samples in full and in accordance with the truth, to meet the written and verbal information requests and to provide all kinds of assistance and convenience, and to keep the information, documents, books and electronic records regarding the business and transactions for ten years from the date of the business or transaction,
  • From fifty thousand Turkish liras to two hundred fifty thousand Turkish liras for public institutions and organizations, professional organizations in the nature of public institutions and other natural or legal persons, natural persons and private legal entities who act in violation of the obligation to report the information requested by the Ministry to the system established by the Ministry in order to monitor and evaluate the development of electronic commerce,
  • From ten thousand Turkish liras to one hundred thousand Turkish liras for each ECSP involved in the unfair practice,
  • Not less than ten thousand Turkish liras for each ECSP that is not paid in due time, and up to the amount of the unpaid amount on timeouts of up to thirty days, and twice the amount of the unpaid amount in due time on timeouts exceeding thirty days,
  • Five hundred thousand Turkish liras, in case of forcing the electronic commerce service provider to sell goods or services with campaigns, including unilateral changes in the sales price by the ECISP, and in case of violation of the obligation to enable the ECSP to include the information in the documents required to be issued within the scope of the Tax Procedure Law dated 04.01.1961 and numbered 213 in the electronic commerce marketplace where the sale is made, for each ECSP,
  • Ten thousand Turkish liras for each breach of the ECISP, in the event that the conditions of the commercial relationship with the ECSP are not determined by an intermediation agreement made in writing or electronically, or that this agreement is not clear, understandable and easily accessible by the ECSP, and the ECISP does not eliminate the breach despite the warning made by the Ministry of Trade,
  • Ten times the amount of the unjustly collected fee in the event that a fee is collected from the ECSP even though no service is provided, or the type of service provided, and the amount or rate of the service fee are not specified in the intermediation agreement,
  • Three hundred thousand Turkish liras for each ECSP in the event that the ECSP is downgraded in the ranking or recommendation system, or the service provided to the ECSP is restricted, suspended or terminated where no objective criteria are included in the intermediation agreement or on the grounds that an application has been made to public institutions or judicial authorities,
  • At the rate of five per cent of the net sales amount of the calendar year preceding the date of the situation where ECISP offers for sale or mediates the sale of goods bearing the trademark or having the right to use the trademark of itself or the persons with whom it has economic integrity in the electronic commerce marketplaces where ECISP provides intermediary services, and is providing access between the different electronic commerce environments that these goods are offered for and promoting each other, where ECISP does not obtain more than half of the total sales revenue of its products from sales outside of electronic commerce,
  • Ten thousand Turkish liras for each breach, in case of breach of the obligation to verify the introductory information of the ECSP through documents or the electronic systems of the relevant institutions which are open to access.
  1. REGULATIONS IN THE EUROPEAN UNION

The new forms of economic activities such as online trading and online research tools are collectively referred to as "information society services" in the Directive 2000/31/EC ("Directive"), also known as the E-commerce Directive. "Information society services" are defined as "any service normally provided for remuneration, at a distance, by means of electronic equipment for the processing (including digital compression) and storage of data, and at the individual request of a recipient of a service" in the Directive.

Articles 12 to 15 of the Directive facilitate the liability of "intermediary service providers," which are also referred to as "information society service providers" in the Directive. The Directive specifically points out that the Member States shall not impose a general obligation on providers to monitor the information they transmit or store, nor actively seek facts or circumstances indicating illegal activity. One of the main aspects of the Directive is that intermediary service providers are not held liable for illegal information shared through their services, given that the provider took required action when it became aware of the information.

This approach has been sustained with the Digital Services Act ("DSA") which was published on 27 October 2022 in the Official Journal of the European Union. The DSA aims to update the E-commerce Directive and also sets forth regulations regarding service providers and create a more transparent and safe online environment for consumers.

The DSA sets out rules on "intermediary services," which is a term that covers online search engines, internet and hosting service providers (e.g., cloud services providers), as well as online platforms (e.g., marketplaces, app stores, social media platforms). Even though the DSA has entered into force, the E-commerce Directive will remain in force alongside it.

Compared to the E-commerce Directive, the DSA improves the due diligence obligations on service providers, including new rules on content moderation, mandatory information to be provided to consumers and businesses, and requirements for compliance by design. It imposes obligations regarding online advertising on the service providers (Amendment 20-Recital 23), as well as obliging them to carry out due diligence checks on the business users (Amendment 512-Recital 39b),and ensure transparency and remove prohibited content in an urgent manner (Amendment 44-Recital 41).

Article 10(2) of the Regulation states that in the event of ECISP becoming aware that the content provided by ECSP is illegal, it shall remove such content from publication without delay for a period not exceeding forty-eight hours and notify the ECSP and the relevant public institutions and organizations. Similarly, the DSA states that intermediary service providers must have a clearly identifiable illegal content reporting mechanism for individuals or entities (Amendment 41-Recital 40).

The DSA further stipulates that notices should be directed to the actor that has the technical and operational ability to act and the closest relationship to the recipient of the service that provided the information or content. The DSA also imposes the obligation to redirect the notices to the particular online platform and to inform the Digital Services Coordinator to the hosting service providers (Amendment 42-Recital 40a). Finally, the DSA obliges providers of hosting services to act upon notices without undue delay, taking into account the type of illegal content that is being notified and the urgency of taking action.

The Regulation has similar provisions to the DSA, in which Article 10 regulates the actions to be taken when there is illegal content. According to this provision, in the event that the ECISP becomes aware that the content provided by ECSP is illegal, it shall remove such content from publication without delay for a period not exceeding forty-eight hours and notify the ECSP and the relevant public institutions and organizations of the illegal matter.

Similar to the E-commerce Directive's approach on intermediary service providers not being held liable for illegal information shared through their services, Article 10(1) of the Regulation provides that the ECISP is not responsible for any illegality related to the content and the goods or services provided by the ECSP unless otherwise is provided with law.

  1. CONCLUSION

There have been remarkable developments in the e-commerce sector since the COVID-19 pandemic. Detailed regulation was anticipated in thee-commerce sector, due to its rapid and sudden development. As can be seen from the scope of the Regulation, it is aimed to enable new businesses entering the market to compete under equal conditions, to prevent certain sizes of enterprises from operating in a way that disrupts free market conditions and bring enterprises operating in the electronic commerce sector under the supervision and control of the authorities. The activities of the service providers are regulated in the European Union as well with the E-commerce Directive and the Digital Services Act.

It is evident that the sector has been reorganized with both the Amending Law and secondary regulation in line with the regulations in the European Union. In this context, it is important that ECISPs carry out the necessary adaptation process by examining the Regulation in detail along with the Law on the Regulation of Electronic Commerce numbered 6563.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.