Regulating Digitalization in Türkiye

Regulating Digitalization in Türkiye

The Law No. 6563 on the Regulation of Electronic Commerce (the “E-commerce Law”) of Türkiye has been considered inefficient to address the problems created in the face of rapidly changing technology and digitalization. It was amended with the Law on the Regulation of Electronic Commerce Amendment Law (the “Amending Law”) adopted by the Turkish Parliament on 1 July 2022. Influenced by the European Union’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) and the Digital Services Act, the Amending Law was published in the Official Gazette on 7 July 2022 and was entered into force on 1 January 2023.

The new Law aims to protect the competitive environment, prohibit unfair commercial practices and monopolization, and ensure a healthy growth of the e-commerce sector in Türkiye. Yet, it brings radical changes to the previous legislation. The operations of sector players will be significantly affected by the new definitions and by the new obligations and restrictions that were introduced and imposed in the Amending Law.

Separately, the Draft Digital Markets Bill to amend the Law on Protection of Competition (the “Competition Law”) was published in October 2022. Amendments that come with the Draft Bill aim to regulate and protect the fair and competitive environment in the digital markets while ensuring further compliance with the EU legislation.

This special issue of the Network Industries Quarterly features five short articles which mainly explore the potential effects of the changes in the E-commerce Law and the Competition Law. This issue also presents an analysis on the recent developments and challenges in the regulation of data privacy in Türkiye.

The first contribution by Ekingen aims to explain how the amendments to the regulation of e-commerce have affected online multi-sided platforms and their current position in digital markets in Türkiye.

Ikiler and Yüksel compare the Proposed Amendment with the DMA and the German Competition Act to identify procedural, substantive and fundamental differences between those legislations and also discuss whether and for which circumstances there would be a need for the Proposed Amendment despite the E-Commerce Law.

Arslan and Tanoğlu also compare the Amendment Law with EU regulations. Given the fact that the market in Türkiye is still growing, the authors discuss whether these regulations risk over-regulating the market.

Girgin, Horozoğlu, and Çal examine the effect of the E-commerce Law and Draft Digital Markets Bill on Competition Law on e-commerce platforms and market competition.

Ersoy focuses on the regulation of data privacy in Türkiye. Ersoy examines recent developments and challenges, and by taking previous experiences in the field of data protection law in Türkiye, the author provides reflections for the future.

Deniz Ece Dalgic, PhD
Manager, Istanbul Center for Regulation