New product safety regulations in Turkey

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Tansu Akin
Akin, Istanbul
tansu@akin.av.tr

On 5 March 2020, the Turkish Parliament adopted Law No 7,223 on Product Safety and Technical Regulations ('New Law').

The main legislation on product safety was previously Law No. 4,703 on Preparation and Application of Technical Legislation ('Old Law') which will remain in place until the New Law comes into force on 12 March 2021.

Both laws follow the systematic and main principles of the Acquis Communautaire. Turkey, as a customs union partner of the European Union, had based its Old Law on EU legislation that was in force until 2001. Now, Turkey follows the same approach and adopts EU product safety regulations.

The New Law states its clear aim in the bill’s introduction served before parliament and in its reasoning: a flawless and sustainable balance of manufacturing, business and trade is in the public interest, and the legislative body should maintain this, while keeping its market intervention to a minimum. This applies not only to the domestic market, but also to exported goods, which would serve to help achieve a sustainable increase in foreign trade.

The EU, as one of Turkey’s leading export markets, is taken as a basis of the new legislation, indeed, the integration of the new Turkish legislation with EU regulations is clearly pointed out in the New Law: Article 2/4 casts products intended for markets other than the EU or Turkey out of its scope.

The Old Law came before changes in EU legislation made especially in 2010 and 2019 and, therefore, the new legislation was required to follow the up-to-date EU rules. It also includes particulars on e-commerce, traceability of the manufacturer, product liability compensation and so on.

Roughly evaluating the New Law, it follows the same pattern set out in the Old Law and is very similar, if not identical, to EU product safety regulations. Thanks to the technical regulations introduced in Turkey over the last two decades, the country’s product safety infrastructure is very much integrated with the EU’s. In this regard, most of the EU technical regulations in Turkey automatically become a part of the Turkish legislation, thanks to the bilateral treaties. The New Law, therefore, is definitely not a game changer.

The New Law on the other hand introduces an extension of: (i) the manufacturer’s, exporter’s and distributor’s liabilities; (ii) transparency on the conformity of products; and (iii) the surveillance and inspection of the market and products. It also categorises the hazardous products to levels of ‘hazardous’ and ‘extremely hazardous’, placing different layers of protection and intervention measures.

It also extends the period of product liability from two to three years, commencing from the identification of the damage and the liable party. Although the New Law retains the reference to the principles of Code of Obligations, which forms an essential part of Turkish civil law, it diverges from its two years principle for claiming damages.

The New Law also makes more precise definitions to accreditation, risk concepts, technical services, voluntary and compulsory recall, market surveillance, product liability and product safety. The distributor and importer are held responsible and, like the manufacturer, even held accountable for product safety matters. This liability extends to the authorised representative of the manufacturer in case of compensation liability.

Fines under the law have also been raised considerably.

The New Law will come into force on 12 March 2021. Until then, the government will introduce and/or update technical regulations. Nevertheless, with the Old Law’s infrastructure and existing technical regulations, we do not expect a breach in the product safety practice in Turkey.

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