Newsletter Regarding the Increase of Certain Monetary Thresholds Specified in the Law on the Regulation of Electronic Commerce

With the Decree on Increasing the Monetary Thresholds by Half Specified in the Additional 2nd, Additional 3rd and Additional 4th Articles of the Law on the Regulation of Electronic Commerce (“Decree“) published in the Official Gazette dated 23.02.2023 and numbered 32113, the monetary thresholds in the articles regulating the obligations of electronic commerce intermediary service providers and electronic commerce service providers in the Law on the Regulation of Electronic Commerce (“Law“) have been increased by half.

Please see below the details regarding the thresholds increased by the relevant Decree:

1. Obligations of the Electronic Commerce Intermediary Service Provider (Additional Article 2)

• • • Pursuant to paragraph 2 of the aforementioned article, electronic commerce intermediary service providers with a net transaction volume of 10 (ten) billion TRY in a calendar year have additional obligations[1]. The threshold of 10 (ten) billion TRY has been increased to 15 (fifteen) billion TRY.
    • Similarly, in paragraph 3 of the same article, there were additional obligations for electronic commerce intermediary service providers with a net transaction volume of 30 (thirty) billion TRY in a calendar year. The monetary threshold here has also been increased to 45 (forty-five) billion TRY. The monetary thresholds of 30 (thirty) billion TRY in the obligations regarding advertising expenditures specified in the rest of the paragraph have also been increased to 45 (forty-five) billion TRY.
    • Paragraph 4 of Additional Article 2 regulated the additional obligations of electronic commerce intermediary service providers with a net transaction volume of 60 (sixty) billion TRY in a calendar year; the monetary threshold here has been amended as 90 (ninety) billion TRY.
    • The monetary thresholds in the last paragraph of the said Article regarding the limitation of advertising and discount budgets have also been increased by half. In this context, the advertising and discount budgets of electronic commerce intermediary service providers have been increased.

2. Obligations of the Electronic Commerce Service Provider (Additional Article 3)

• • • Additional Article 3/2 states that if the net transaction volume of the electronic commerce service provider is above a certain monetary limit, certain provisions of Additional Article 2 are applied[2] mutatis mutandis for electronic commerce service providers. The monetary limit (net transaction volume in a calendar year) has been increased from 10 (ten) billion TRY to 15 (fifteen) billion TRY, from 30 (thirty) billion TRY to 45 (forty-five) billion TRY and from 60 billion TRY to 90 (ninety) billion TRY.
    • The monetary limit (net transaction volume in a calendar year) in paragraph 7 of Additional Article 3, which regulates the advertising and discount budgets of electronic commerce service providers, has been increased from 30 (thirty) billion TRY to 45 (forty-five) billion TRY. Accordingly, the advertising and discount budgets of electronic commerce service providers have also been increased.

3. Electronic Commerce License (Additional Article 4)

• • • With the Decree, the threshold for the net transaction volume in a calendar year, which obliges electronic commerce intermediary service providers to obtain an electronic commerce license, has been increased from 10 (ten) billion TRY to 15 (fifteen) billion TRY.
    • Also, in paragraph 3 of the Additional Article 4, i.e. the regulation on the net transaction volumes to be taken into account in terms of the license fees to be paid for the electronic commerce license, the net transaction volumes of electronic commerce intermediary service providers have been increased by half.

[1] Electronic commerce intermediary service providers at this level have additional obligations such as the obligation to notify the share changes and the obligation to submit the reports prepared by independent audit firm to the Ministry.

[2] For example, it is stated that the advertising and discount budget applied to electronic commerce intermediary service providers will be applied by analogy for an electronic commerce service provider whose net transaction volume in a calendar year is over thirty billion Turkish liras and the number of transactions excluding cancellations and returns is over ten million.