Turkey Raises Fines For Consumer Protection Violations By More Than 10%

Recent development

In Turkey, consumer complaints against sellers and manufacturers may only be brought in Turkish consumer courts if the amount in dispute is above a certain threshold. These thresholds are set shortly before the beginning of each calendar year. Consumer complaints below the jurisdictional thresholds may only be brought in a consumer arbitral tribunal. On December 27, 2014, Turkey set the thresholds for 2015 in its Communiqué on Monetary Limits Set Forth under the Consumer Protection Law and the Consumer Arbitral Tribunals Regulation (Communiqué No: TGM-2014/2), raising the thresholds by 10%.

Under this communiqué, consumer complaints below the threshold of TRY 3,300 (approx. USD 1,400) must be submitted to consumer arbitral tribunals, whereas those above this threshold must be submitted to consumer courts.