PRICE TAG REGULATIONS IN RETAIL SECTOR
The Price Tag Regulation has been published in the Official Gazette numbered 29044 dated 28 June 2014 (in Turkish, “Fiyat Etiketi Yönetmeliği”, the “Regulation”).
Article 4 of the Regulation entitled “Definitions” defines the price tag as “The label used by sellers to inform consumers about the mandatory issues determined by the Regulation regarding goods offered for retail sale”.
As per the provisions of the Code on Protection of Consumers numbered 6502 (in Turkish, “Tüketicinin Korunması Hakkında Kanun”, the “Law”) (Article 54), the goods put on retail sales or their packaging or their boxes shall bear price tags as below.
Such price tags (i) shall be clearly visible and legible, (ii) shall reveal the unit price and the sales price of the related good, in a manner to comprise all taxes payable by the consumer and (iii) shall be prepared in a manner to disclose the country of manufacture and the distinctive features of the related good. In cases where it is not possible to put price tags on the goods, the lists comprising the above stated traits shall be hung on the appropriate places provided to be clearly visible and legible.
On the tags and the lists, the below information shall be indicated in Turkish as per Article 5 of the Regulation with the heading “The Obligation to Place Labels on Products”:
- Country of manufacture of the product,
- distinctive features of the good,
- sales price of the good in a manner comprising all taxes (e.g. VAT),
- unit price of the good,
- date of implementation of the sales price and the unit price,
- (if any) figure, logo or sign determined and announced by the Ministry for the products having been manufactured in Turkey,
- If there is a deposit fee for the delivery and return of the packaging separately from the sales price of the packaged goods, the amount of such fee.
Kindly note that the country of manufacture of the imported goods shall be written on the price tags in the Turkish language in accordance with Article 5 (3) of the Regulation.
Except for the price lists of package tours and education services to be performed abroad and transportation and accommodation services for abroad, it is obligatory to write the sales prices on the labels and lists as ‘Turkish Lira’, ‘TL‘ or its symbol.
Article 5 of the Regulation regulates the label placement arrangement. Accordingly, the labels that must be placed on the goods offered for sale at retail are used according to the nature of the goods, the size of the place where the goods are offered for sale, commercial procedures and customs, on the goods or their packaging or containers by placing, sewing, stapling, gluing, attaching or hanging on groups or shelves of goods of the same nature.
As per the amendments made to Article 9 of the Price Tag Regulation; the numbers and letters on the labels, tariffs and price lists shall be legible, neat, complete, right, large enough and shall not create confusion with other numbers, words and signs, and shall not contain misleading and deceptive information. The labels shall be placed in a manner to be visible, legible and identifiable in terms of to which product they belong.
Finally, kindly note that (i) in case of difference between the sales price of the product and the cashpoint price, the price in favor of the consumer shall apply, (ii) the sales price of the goods or services subject to discount, shall be indicated along with the price prior to the discount on the tariffs and price lists and tags and (iii) the discounted sales price is indicated together and using the same font size with the pre-discount sales price.
The Law determines the administrative fines applicable in cases of violation of the related provisions thereof. According to the Communiqué On Administrative Fines to be Applied in 2023 as per the Code on Consumer Protection numbered 6502 (in Turkish, “6502 Sayılı Tüketicinin Korunması Hakkında Kanunun 77nci Maddesine Göre 2023 Yılında Uygulanacak Olan İdari Para Cezalarına İlişkin Tebliğ”), the administrative fine that may be imposed for each violation regarding price tags is TRY 1,371 (approximately EUR 45) in 2023.
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