Unofficial English translation for information only. In case of discrepancy, the Turkish text prevails. This translation is not legal advice.
Turkish source: Law No. 6502, Official Gazette 28/11/2013, No. 28835. Turkish text as published on mevzuat.gov.tr, checked on 26 October 2026: https://www.mevzuat.gov.tr/mevzuat?MevzuatNo=6502&MevzuatTur=1&MevzuatTertip=5
PART ONE – Purpose, Scope and Definitions
Article 1 – Purpose
(1) The purpose of this Law is to regulate matters relating to taking measures, in accordance with the public interest, to protect consumers’ health and safety and economic interests, compensate for their losses, ensure their protection from environmental hazards, inform and raise the awareness of consumers, encourage consumers’ initiatives to protect themselves, and promote voluntary organisations in the formulation of policies on these matters.
Article 2 – Scope
(1) This Law covers all types of consumer transactions and practices directed at consumers.
Article 3 – Definitions
(1) For the purposes of this Law:
a) Minister means the Minister of Customs and Trade,
b) the Ministry means the Ministry of Customs and Trade,
c) Director General means the Director General of Consumer Protection and Market Surveillance,
ç) Directorate General means the Directorate General of Consumer Protection and Market Surveillance,
d) Service means the subject matter of any consumer transaction, other than the supply of goods, performed or undertaken in return for a fee or benefit,
e) Importer means a natural or legal person, including public legal entities, who imports goods or services, or the raw materials or intermediate goods of such goods, for commercial or professional purposes and places them on the market through sale, lease, financial leasing or a similar method,
f) Permanent data storage device means any tool or medium, such as a text message, electronic mail, the internet, a disk, CD, DVD or memory card, that enables information sent by or to the consumer to be recorded in a manner allowing it to be reviewed for a reasonable period in accordance with its purpose, copied without alteration and accessed in its exact form,
g) Housing finance institution means banks that extend loans directly to consumers or engage in financial leasing within the scope of housing finance, and financial leasing companies and financing companies approved by the Banking Regulation and Supervision Board to engage in housing finance activities,
ğ) Lender means a natural or legal person authorised by legislation to extend loans to consumers,
h) Goods means movable property, immovable property for residential or holiday purposes, and all kinds of intangible goods prepared for use in an electronic environment, such as software, sound and images, that are the subject of trade,
ı) Provider means a natural or legal person, including public legal entities, who provides services to consumers for commercial or professional purposes or acts on behalf of or for the account of the service provider,
i) Seller means a natural or legal person, including public legal entities, who offers goods to consumers for commercial or professional purposes or acts on behalf of or for the account of the person offering the goods,
j) Technical regulation means the definition set out in the Law on the Preparation and Implementation of Technical Legislation on Products, dated 29/6/2001 and numbered 4703,
k) Consumer means a natural or legal person acting for purposes outside their trade or profession,
l) Consumer transaction means any contract or legal transaction, including contracts for work, carriage, brokerage, insurance, mandate, banking and similar contracts, concluded between consumers and natural or legal persons acting for commercial or professional purposes, including public legal entities, or acting on their behalf or for their account, in the markets for goods or services,
m) Consumer organisations means associations, foundations or their umbrella organisations established for the purpose of consumer protection,
n) Producer means natural or legal persons, including public legal entities, who produce goods offered to consumers or the raw materials or intermediate goods of such goods, and those who present themselves as the producer by placing their brand, trade name or any distinctive sign on the goods,
PART TWO – General Principles
Article 4 – Basic principles
(1) Contracts and disclosures required under this Law to be made in writing shall be drawn up in a comprehensible language, clearly, simply and legibly, in a font size of at least twelve points, and a copy shall be provided to the consumer on paper or by means of a permanent data storage device. If one or more of the terms required to be included in the contract are missing, the omission shall not affect the validity of the contract. The person drawing up the contract shall remedy the omission immediately.
(2) The conditions stipulated in the contract may not be changed to the detriment of the consumer during the term of the contract.
(3) No additional charge may be demanded from the consumer for performances which the consumer may reasonably expect to be made within the scope of the goods or services offered and which are among the legal obligations of the person drawing up the contract, or for expenses incurred by that person in line with their own interests. As for products or services offered to consumers by banks, financial institutions extending consumer loans and card-issuing institutions, the types of fees, commissions and expenses, other than interest, to be charged to consumers, and the procedures and principles relating to them, shall be determined by the Central Bank of the Republic of Türkiye, having obtained the opinion of the Ministry, in accordance with the spirit of this Law and in a manner that protects consumers.[1]
(4) Information on all fees and expenses to be demanded from the consumer pursuant to contracts regulated by this Law must be provided to the consumer in writing on paper as an annex to the contract. In contracts concluded by means of distance communication, this information shall be provided in a manner appropriate to the means of distance communication used. The burden of proving that this information was provided to the consumer rests with the person drawing up the contract.
(5) In connection with transactions carried out by the consumer, instruments qualifying as negotiable instruments may be issued only in registered form and separately for each instalment payment. Instruments issued contrary to this paragraph shall be invalid with respect to the consumer.
(6) In consumer transactions, personal guarantees taken in respect of the consumer’s obligations shall be deemed ordinary suretyship, whatever their designation. Personal guarantees given by the counterparty in respect of the consumer’s receivables shall be deemed joint and several suretyship, unless otherwise provided by other laws.
(7) Compound interest shall not be applied in consumer transactions, including in cases of default.
(8) This Law also covers participation banks in respect of all its provisions. It shall be applied taking into account the profit share.
Article 5 – Unfair terms in consumer contracts
(1) An unfair term is a contract term included in a contract without being negotiated with the consumer and which, contrary to the rule of good faith, causes an imbalance to the detriment of the consumer in the rights and obligations of the parties arising from the contract.
(2) Unfair terms in contracts concluded with consumers shall be null and void. The provisions of the contract other than the unfair terms shall remain valid. In such a case, the person drawing up the contract may not argue that they would not have concluded the contract on the remaining terms in the absence of the terms deemed null and void.
(3) If a contract term has been prepared in advance and the consumer has been unable to influence its content because it appears in a standard contract, that term shall be deemed not to have been negotiated with the consumer. If the person drawing up the contract claims that a standard term was individually negotiated, they shall bear the burden of proving it. If an assessment of the contract as a whole leads to the conclusion that it is a standard contract, the fact that certain elements of a term in that contract or an individual provision have been negotiated shall not prevent this Article from applying to the remainder of the contract.
(4) Where contract terms are in writing, clear and comprehensible language that the consumer can understand must be used. If a provision in the contract is not clear and comprehensible or has more than one meaning, it shall be interpreted in favour of the consumer.
(5) The provisions of this Article shall also apply, regardless of their nature, to contracts drawn up by persons or organisations carrying out their activities with a licence granted by law or by a competent authority.
(6) The unfairness of a contract term shall be determined at the time the contract is concluded, taking into account the nature of the goods or services that are the subject of the contract, the circumstances existing at the time of its conclusion, and the other provisions of the contract or the provisions of another contract to which the unfair term relates.
(7) In assessing the unfairness of contract terms, no assessment may be made either of the balance between the main performance obligations arising from the contract or of the balance between the market value of the goods or services and the price set in the contract, provided that those terms are written in plain and intelligible language.
(8) The Ministry shall take the necessary measures to ensure that unfair terms in contracts prepared for general use are removed from the contract texts or prevented from being used.
(9) The procedures and principles relating to the identification and supervision of unfair terms, and contract terms deemed unfair, without limitation, shall be determined by regulation.
Article 6 – Refusal to sell
(1) Goods displayed in a shop window, on a shelf, in an electronic environment or in any other clearly visible place may not be withheld from sale unless an indication stating that they are not for sale is displayed.
(2) The provision of a service may not be refused without just cause.
(3) Persons acting for commercial or professional purposes may not make the sale of goods or services conditional on quantities, numbers, dimensions or similar conditions determined by them, or on the purchase of other goods or services, unless there is a contrary custom, commercial usage or practice, or just cause.
(4) The Ministry and municipalities are responsible for carrying out tasks relating to the implementation and monitoring of the provisions of this Article.
Article 7 – Unordered goods or services
(1) Where goods are sent or services are provided without having been ordered, no right may be asserted against the consumer. In such cases, the consumer’s silence or use of the goods or service may not be interpreted as a declaration of acceptance for the conclusion of a contract. The consumer has no obligation to return or retain the goods.
(2) The person claiming that goods or services were ordered shall bear the burden of proving that claim.
PART THREE – Defective Goods and Services
CHAPTER ONE – Defective Goods
Article 8 – Defective goods
(1) Defective goods are goods that, at the time of delivery to the consumer, fail to conform to the contract because they do not conform to the sample or model agreed by the parties or do not possess the characteristics they should objectively possess.
(2) Goods that do not possess one or more of the characteristics stated on their packaging, label, introductory and operating manual, internet portal, or in advertisements and announcements; that do not conform to the quality notified by the seller or specified in their technical regulation; that do not serve the purpose of use of equivalent goods; or that contain material, legal or economic deficiencies which reduce or eliminate the benefits reasonably expected by the consumer, shall also be deemed defective.
(3) Failure to deliver the goods that are the subject of the contract within the period agreed in the contract, or failure to assemble them properly where assembly is carried out by the seller or under the seller’s responsibility, shall be considered performance contrary to the contract. Where assembly of the goods is intended to be carried out by the consumer, incorrect assembly due to an error or omission in the assembly instructions shall constitute performance contrary to the contract.
Article 9 – Liability for defective goods
(1) The seller is obliged to deliver the goods to the consumer in conformity with the sales contract.
(2) The seller shall not be bound by the content of statements made through advertising if the seller proves that they were unaware, and could not reasonably have been expected to be aware, of statements not attributable to the seller; that the content of the statement had been corrected by the time the sales contract was concluded; or that the decision to conclude the sales contract was not causally connected with that statement.
Article 10 – Burden of proof
(1) Defects that appear within six months from the date of delivery shall be presumed to have existed at the time of delivery. In such a case, the burden of proving that the goods were not defective rests with the seller. This presumption shall not apply if it is incompatible with the nature of the goods or the defect.
(2) There shall be no non-conformity with the contract where the consumer knew or could reasonably have been expected to know of the defect on the date the contract was concluded. The consumer’s right to choose among the available remedies in respect of other defects is reserved.
(3) An explanatory label containing information about the defect shall be affixed by the producer, importer or seller to the defective goods offered for sale or to their packaging, in a manner that the consumer can readily read. This label must be provided to the consumer, or the explanatory information about the defect must be clearly shown on the invoice, receipt or sales document provided to the consumer. Products that do not comply with their technical regulation may under no circumstances be placed on the market. The provisions of the Law on the Preparation and Implementation of Technical Legislation on Products and other relevant legislation shall apply to such products.
Article 11 – Consumer’s optional rights
(1) Where it is understood that the goods are defective, the consumer may exercise one of the following optional rights:
a) withdraw from the contract by declaring readiness to return the goods sold,
b) retain the goods sold and request a reduction in the sales price in proportion to the defect,
c) request free repair of the goods sold, with all expenses borne by the seller, provided that this does not entail excessive expense,
ç) request replacement of the goods sold with an identical non-defective item, if possible,
The seller is obliged to fulfil the request chosen by the consumer.
(2) The rights to free repair or replacement of the goods with an identical non-defective item may also be exercised against the producer or importer. The seller, producer and importer are jointly and severally liable for fulfilling the rights under this paragraph. The producer or importer shall not be held liable if they prove that the defect arose after the goods were placed on the market by them.
(3) If free repair or replacement of the goods with an identical non-defective item would entail disproportionate difficulties for the seller, the consumer may exercise either the right to withdraw from the contract or the right to a reduction in the price in proportion to the defect. In determining whether the burden is disproportionate, matters such as the value of the goods if non-defective, the importance of the defect and whether recourse to the other optional rights would pose a problem for the consumer shall be taken into account.
(4) Where one of the rights to free repair or replacement of the goods with an identical non-defective item is chosen, the request must be fulfilled within a maximum of thirty working days from the date it is directed to the seller, producer or importer, or within sixty working days for immovable property intended for housing or holidays. However, for goods listed in the annex to the regulation issued pursuant to Article 58 of this Law, the consumer’s request for free repair shall be fulfilled within the maximum repair period specified in the regulation. Otherwise, the consumer is free to exercise their other optional rights.
(5) Where the consumer chooses the right to withdraw from the contract or to a reduction in the price in proportion to the defect, the entire amount paid or the amount of the price reduction shall be refunded to the consumer immediately.
(6) All expenses arising from the exercise of optional rights shall be borne by the party fulfilling the right chosen by the consumer. In addition to one of these optional rights, the consumer may also claim compensation pursuant to the provisions of the Turkish Code of Obligations dated 11/1/2011 and numbered 6098.
Article 12 – Limitation period
(1) Unless a longer period is stipulated by law or by the contract between the parties, liability for defective goods shall be subject to a limitation period of two years from the date the goods are delivered to the consumer, even if the defect appears later. For immovable property intended for housing or holidays, this period shall be five years from the date the immovable property is delivered.
(2) Subject to the third paragraph of Article 10 of this Law, in second-hand sales the seller’s liability for defective goods may not be less than one year, or less than three years for immovable property intended for housing or holidays.
(3) The provisions on limitation periods shall not apply if the defect has been concealed through gross fault or fraud.
CHAPTER TWO – Defective Services
Article 13 – Defective service
(1) A defective service is a service that does not begin within the period specified in the contract or that is contrary to the contract because it does not possess the characteristics agreed by the parties and those it should objectively possess.
(2) Services that do not possess the characteristics stated by the service provider or appearing on its internet portal or in its advertisements and announcements, or that contain material, legal or economic deficiencies which reduce or eliminate their value for the intended use or the benefits reasonably expected by the consumer, are defective.
Article 14 – Liability for defective service
(1) The provider is obliged to perform the service in conformity with the contract.
(2) The provider shall not be bound by the content of statements made through advertising if the provider proves that they were unaware, and could not reasonably have been expected to be aware, of statements not attributable to the provider; that the content of the statement had been corrected by the date the service contract was concluded; or that the decision to conclude the service contract was not causally connected with that statement.
Article 15 – Consumer’s optional rights
(1) In cases where the service is performed defectively, the consumer is free to exercise against the service provider one of the following rights: re-performance of the service, free repair of the work resulting from the service, a reduction in the price in proportion to the defect, or rescission of the contract. The service provider is obliged to fulfil the consumer’s chosen request. All costs arising from the exercise of the optional rights shall be borne by the service provider. In addition to one of these optional rights, the consumer may also claim compensation pursuant to the provisions of the Turkish Code of Obligations.
(2) The consumer may not exercise the rights to free repair or re-performance of the service where these would entail disproportionate difficulties for the service provider. In determining disproportionality, matters such as the value of the service if performed without defect, the significance of the defect, and whether recourse to the other optional rights would pose a problem for the consumer shall be taken into account.
(3) Where the consumer chooses the right to rescind the contract or to a reduction in the price in proportion to the defect, the entire amount paid or the amount of the price reduction shall be refunded to the consumer immediately.
(4) Where free repair or re-performance of the service is chosen, the service provider shall fulfil the request within a reasonable period, taking into account the nature of the service and the purpose for which the consumer uses it, and in a manner that does not cause serious problems for the consumer. In any event, this period may not exceed thirty business days from the date the request is directed to the service provider. Otherwise, the consumer is free to exercise the other optional rights.
Article 16 – Limitation period
(1) Unless a longer period is prescribed by law or agreed in the contract between the parties, liability for a defective service is subject to a two-year limitation period from the date of performance of the service, even if the defect appears later.
(2) The provisions on limitation periods shall not apply where the defect has been concealed through gross fault or fraud.
Notes
[1] By Article 39 of Law No. 7222 dated 20/2/2020, the phrase “Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency” in the second sentence of this paragraph was amended to read “Central Bank of the Republic of Türkiye”.