The Ministry of Commerce carried out an inspection on e-commerce companies. During the inspections, a total of 78 million 530 thousand 902 TL administrative fines were imposed on 44 companies. The reason for the penalties was order cancellations.
We have been frequently confronted with inspection news lately. Ministry of Commercemade another statement today. made by the Ministry in the statementsAn audit was carried out on the e-commerce sector and as a result of the investigations, a total of 44 companies were given 78 million 530 thousand 902 TL It was stated that an administrative fine was imposed.
Inspection carried out by the Ministry of Commerce, companies engaged in e-commerce It was about order cancellations.. During the investigations, it was determined that some companies made unfair order cancellations due to reasons such as cost increases, stock problems or exchange rate volatility. The main purpose of these companies is was to make more profit. The Ministry imposed fines one by one on companies that victimized consumers as a result of their actions.
Statement made by the Ministry of Commerce:
As a result of the inspections carried out by the Ministry of Commerce on companies that caused consumer grievance as a result of order cancellations, a total of 78,530,902 TL administrative fines were imposed on 44 companies in 2023.
It is observed that the ratio of electronic commerce to general commerce is increasing day by day, with the rapid development of technology, the widespread use of digitalization, and the changing shopping habits of consumers, especially after the Covid-19 Pandemic.
“As of 2022, the e-commerce volume in our country reached 800.7 billion TL, with an increase of 109% compared to the previous year.”
According to the 2022 data of our Ministry’s Electronic Commerce Information System (ETBİS), while the ratio of e-commerce to general trade in our country was 9.8% in 2019, this rate reached 15.7% in 2020 and 18.6% in 2022. At the same time, as of 2022, the e-commerce volume in our country has increased by 109% compared to the previous year, reaching 800.7 billion TL. It was observed that the number of orders increased from 3 billion 347 million units to 4 billion 787 million units in 2022, an increase of 43% compared to the previous year.
With this high rate of increase in e-commerce volume, the lack of physical control of the seller’s identity and the goods, which can only be done in traditional shopping, has revealed the need for greater protection of consumers, and in this context, the importance of the regulations made in the Consumer Protection Law No. 6502 and the Distance Contracts Regulation has become even more important. has emerged. With these regulations, both consumers are protected and the negativities caused by companies that cause unfair competition in the sector and disrupt fair competition conditions with their behavior contrary to regulations are prevented.
As the Ministry, we provide guidance to companies operating in the sector regarding legal legislation and practices through press releases regarding the e-commerce sector, distributed articles for non-governmental organizations formed by companies, and public service announcements, while informing our consumers about their legal rights.
In addition to these studies, it is aimed to prevent consumer grievances through inspections carried out as a result of analyzes made on consumer complaint applications and arbitral tribunal data, and by controlling the compliance processes of companies in the e-commerce sector with the legislation.
“Of the 61 companies inspected in 2023, a total administrative fine of 78,530,902 TL was imposed on 44 companies whose practices were found to be contrary to the legislation.”
Depending on the developing and changing ecosystem, our Ministry will continue effective, intensive and widespread inspections to protect consumer rights, especially in the e-commerce sector, to prevent victimization and to ensure fair competition conditions.