The regulation provisions of the Ticaret Bakanlığı (Türkiye’s Ministry of Trade) restricting the right of withdrawal for technological products and vehicles have been annulled by a Council of State ruling. With the ruling, consumers’ right to return purchases of smartwatches, mobile phones, tablets, computers and motorcycles has been reinstated, while the charging of return shipping fees to consumers has also been prevented.
Mahmut Şahin, President of the Consumers’ Union, said that the ruling had eliminated provisions that worked against consumers. Attorney Kerim Bahadır Ertaş, meanwhile, stated that rights guaranteed by Law No. 6502 and the Constitution could not be limited through regulations, and said that the remaining 3 restrictive provisions had also been annulled.
Why it matters
The significance of the ruling lies in strengthening the legal framework stipulating that consumers’ rights guaranteed by law and the Constitution cannot be narrowed through restrictions at the regulatory level. For this reason, the regulation directly concerns consumers who want to return a product after purchasing electronics or a motorcycle and face the cost of returning it. Preventing the shipping cost from being charged to consumers has a practical effect in ensuring that the right of withdrawal does not remain merely theoretical. However, how sellers will implement return procedures and which procedures consumers will have to follow when exercising this right remain open as aspects of implementation whose details are not provided in the text.