CERTAIN PROVISIONS OF REGULATION ON DISTANCE CONTRACTS POSTPONED

As we informed you with our Newsletter dated 5 January 2023, the Regulation on the Amendment of the Distance Contracts Regulation (“Mesafeli Sözleşmeler Yönetmeliğinde Değişiklik Yapılmasına Dair Yönetmelik”, the “Amendment Regulation”) was published in the Official Gazette on 23 August 2022 and numbered 31932. With the Amendment Regulation significant provisions regarding seller’s obligations with respect to (i) preliminary information and (ii) the right of withdrawal have been introduced for which the date of entry into force was initially determined as 1 January 2024.This time, the Regulation on the Amendment of the Distance Contracts Regulation (“Mesafeli Sözleşmeler Yönetmeliğinde Değişiklik Yapılmasına Dair Yönetmelik”, the “New Amendment Regulation”) prepared by the Ministry of Trade, was published in the Official Gazette on 4 November 2023 and numbered 32359.
As per the New Amendment Regulation, the implementation of certain provisions has been postponed to 1 January 2025. The details of such provisions are as follows:

• The consumer must be preliminarily informed about the seller, the sale transaction, delivery procedure and related costs before concluding the distance contract;
  In the event that the consumer exercises its right of withdrawal in distance contracts within 14 days, the seller or its provider is obliged to return the price of the goods or services to the consumer as of the date of the withdrawal within 14 days.
• The Consumers’ obligation is to deliver the products to the seller, the provider or to their authorized person 14 days from the date of the notification of withdrawal. Except for defective cases, the consumer shall cover the return costs.

Below is a list of contracts that have been excluded, unless agreed otherwise, from the scope of the right of withdrawal. Their implementation has been postponed to 1 January 2025:

1. contracts on movables, which must be registered according to the Highway Traffic Law, and unmanned aerial vehicles subject to registry requirement;
2. contracts on mobile phones, smart watches, tablets and computers delivered to the consumer;
3. contracts concluded by way of auctioning; and
4. contracts on the goods that have been installed or assembled by the seller or authorized services in accordance with the advertisements and user manual.

Accordingly, save for the aforesaid provisions, the rest of the provisions regulated under the Amendment Regulation will enter into force on 1 January 2024.

Our Law Firm remains at your disposal for any further clarifications you may need.

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