NEW PRICE TAG REGULATION
The Consumer Protection Law numbered 6502 dated 7 November 2013, published on the Official Gazette numbered 28835 dated 28 November 2013 and entered into force on 28 May 2014 (in Turkish “Tüketicinin Korunması Hakkında Kanun”, hereinafter referred to as the “Law”) regulates price tags in the Article 54 thereof. Empowered by the said article, the Ministry of Customs and Trade has published a new regulation concerning price tags. The new Price Tag Regulation (in Turkish “Fiyat Etiketi Yönetmeliği”, hereinafter referred to as the “Regulation”) has been published on the Official Gazette numbered 29044 dated 28 June 2014 and entered into force on the same date, abrogating and substituting the previous Price Tag Regulation which was dated 14 June 2003.
The Regulation foresees the obligation to affix on the product supplied for retail sale or on its package a tag bearing the sale price (including all taxes), the unit price, the place of manufacture and the distinguishing features (hereinafter, “Price Tag”); or, where it is not possible to affix such tag, to post a list bearing the same information on an appropriate place where it can be seen and read easily (“List”).
Price Tags shall be in Turkish
According to the Article 5/3 of the Regulation, the above required information including the place of manufacture shall be written in Turkish on Price Tags and Lists, thus they cannot be written in English or in
any other language, even if the relevant product is imported. Products that are subject to the requirement to affix a Price Tag
On the Price Tag of a product which is sold to consumers in a package such as a box, bucket, bottle, jar, pouch or a bag made of glass, plastic, cardboard, paper or another similar material, it is required to indicate the sale price and the unit price of the product in the same size and same color, and in a manner that it can be seen and read easily.
On the Price Tag of a product which is sold to customers without a package, it is sufficient to indicate only the unit price.
In the event that the sale price and the unit price of a product are equal, it is not required to indicate the unit price.
Products that are not subject to the Price Tag Requirement
According to the Article 6 of the Regulation, it is not required to affix a Price Tag;
- on a product bearing the information required for Price Tags clearly printed on itself or on its package, or;
- on a product whose price is indicated on itself, such as a book, magazine and newspaper, or;
- on a product which is sold by auction or in accordance with special laws.
The form and the scope of Price Tags
According to the Article 9/1 of the Regulation, the letters and the numbers on a Price Tag shall be legible, proper, complete, accurate and in adequate size and shall not include misleading or deceptive information or any letter, number or sign that might cause confusion.
Article 9/3 of the Regulation states that sale prices shall be written as “Turkish Lira” (in Turkish, “Türk Lirası”), “TRY” (in Turkish, “TL”) or with the symbol of the Turkish Lira as “ ”; except the price lists of package tours and education services to be fulfilled abroad and the transportation and accommodation services intended for
abroad.
Discrepancy between the prices
Pursuant to the Article 10/1 of the Regulation, in case of any difference between the sale price indicated on the Price Tag and the price charged at the checkouts (i.e. deceptive pricing or scanner fraud); which is usually caused by the use of scanner-based computer checkouts and not inputting the sales or discounts; the price that is in favor of the consumer shall be charged.
New provisions concerning discount sales
According to the Article 11/1 of the Regulation, the discounted sale price and the sale price prior to the discount (the previous sale price) shall both be indicated on Price Tags and Lists. In addition, the calculation of the amount or the rate of the discount shall be based on the previous sale price.
The Article 11/2 of the Regulation states that the discounted sale price and the previous sale price shall be indicated in the same size on Price Tags and Lists.
Our Firm remains at your disposal for any further clarifications you may require.