67 million lira fine from the Ministry of Trade

The Ministry of Trade made a statement about the inspections conducted within the scope of consumer protection and market surveillance and the penalties imposed on companies where non-compliance was detected. The Ministry of Trade made a statement about the inspections conducted within the scope of consumer protection and market surveillance and the penalties imposed on companies where non-compliance was detected. The statement of the Ministry of Trade on the subject is as follows: "Our Ministry of Trade protects the rights and interests of our consumers by carrying out inspections that protect the economic interests, health and safety of our consumers and compensate for their damages. The inspection activities detailed below are carried out by our Ministry of Trade in many areas where our consumers are a party. As a result of the inspections carried out by our Ministry of Trade, administrative sanctions are imposed on companies that negatively affect the economic interests of our consumers, especially in matters such as distance contracts, subscription contracts, contracts established outside the workplace, prepaid (on a model) housing sales, timeshare vacations, package tours, banking services, unfair terms, warranty certificates and after-sales services. In this context, in 2022; As a result of the inspections, 268 companies were inspected and a total of administrative fines of TL 157,173,605.79 were imposed on 107 companies that were detected to have violations. In 2023, as of August 15, 2023, 75 companies were inspected and an administrative fine of TL 67,062,267 was imposed on 69 companies that were detected to have activities contrary to the legislation. Inspection of price tags In the price tag inspections carried out in terms of differences between the case price of the goods offered to consumers and the label price and the mandatory issues that must be included on the labels; In 2022, 1,216,164 product labels of 63,003 companies were inspected and an administrative fine of TL 11,918,561.23 was imposed on 23,536 products to 13,978 companies found to be in violation. In 2023, even more emphasis was placed on these inspections, and as of August 15, 2023, 767,494 products from 31,130 companies were inspected, and 11,371 companies were fined 19,098,807 TL for 19,559 products that were found to be in violation. In order to prevent the health and safety of consumers and their economic interests from being harmed by commercial advertisements and unfair commercial practices, the Advertising Board, which is the sole administrative authority authorized to inspect advertisements and unfair commercial practices published in all digital (internet, social media, etc.) and traditional (television, radio, newspaper, etc.) media, has decided on 21,199 files in 2022 regarding deceptive and misleading advertisements and unfair commercial practices, and a total of 42,329,745 TL in administrative fines have been imposed.