CONSUMER PRODUCTS AND E-COMMERCE

Product Safety in Türkiye: Importer Obligations, Market Surveillance and Recalls

Consumer products sold in Türkiye are subject to a product safety and technical regulation system that is largely harmonised with European Union rules. This harmonisation creates the impression that a product placed on the market in Europe can also be sold in Türkiye without further ado. Turkish law, however, imposes obligations of their own on the importer and distributor bringing the product into Türkiye, and these obligations are often overlooked by European manufacturers.

Experience shows that product safety problems usually come to light through a market surveillance inspection, a consumer complaint or a marketplace removing a listing. The following sections address the main obligations that brands and importers selling products in Türkiye should be aware of.

Who is responsible?

Turkish product safety legislation imposes separate obligations on each economic operator involved in making a product available on the market. The manufacturer is responsible for ensuring that the product is safe and complies with the relevant technical regulations. Where the manufacturer is located outside Türkiye, the importer must verify the product's conformity, retain the required documentation and indicate its name and contact details on the product. It should also be borne in mind that in certain cases, for example where the importer places the product on the market under its own name or modifies it, the importer may be held liable directly as a manufacturer.

Distributors and marketplaces are also part of this system. A distributor must not make available a product that it knows or should know is unsafe. Marketplaces are required to cooperate with the competent authorities and to act upon notifications concerning unsafe products.

Conformity documentation and labelling

For products that must bear the CE marking, the declaration of conformity and the technical documentation must be available for presentation to market surveillance authorities on request. The importer must obtain these documents from the manufacturer and keep them for a certain period. In practice, many importers assume that the manufacturer will provide the documents on request and are then unable to present them at short notice during an inspection.

Providing warnings, instructions for use and safety information in Turkish is a separate obligation. For products sold online, certain product safety information must also be shown in the sales listing; online product descriptions must therefore be checked for compliance as well as the labelling on the physical product. For products requiring a warranty certificate and an introduction and user manual, the requirements under consumer legislation must also be met.

Market surveillance

Depending on the product group, products fall under the market surveillance of different ministries. If an inspection finds a product to be unsafe or in breach of technical regulations, administrative fines may be imposed in addition to measures such as a ban on making the product available, recall and destruction. Since fines can be high and assessed separately for each product, the inspection procedure must be handled carefully and the submissions to the authority supported by technical documentation.

Imported products may also be subject to conformity checks at customs. If a product is found non-compliant in these checks, its import may be refused and the product may have to be re-exported or destroyed.

Recalls

Where a safety risk is identified in a product already placed on the market, the manufacturer and importer must notify the competent authority and take the measures necessary to eliminate the risk. The scope of the recall, how consumers are to be informed and who in the supply chain bears the costs are often questions that have not been considered before the event.

The contract between the manufacturer and the importer or distributor should therefore clearly regulate who makes product safety notifications, how a recall is coordinated and how costs are shared. The consequences of recalls for the automotive supplier industry are discussed separately in the relevant article in this section.

Product liability

Besides administrative obligations, product safety legislation also governs the civil liability of manufacturers and importers for damage caused by defective or unsafe products. This liability does not require fault on the part of the manufacturer or importer; the non-conformity of the product, the damage and the causal link between them must, however, be established. It is therefore important to check whether product liability insurance covers sales in Türkiye.

Conclusion

Although product safety obligations in Türkiye resemble the European system, they impose responsibilities of their own on importers and distributors. Complete retention of conformity documentation by the importer, compliance with Turkish labelling and instruction requirements and early allocation of roles for recalls and product liability in supply contracts determine the brand's position in inspection and complaint procedures. General questions of consumer law are addressed in the article on selling to Turkish consumers in this section and on the page of the relevant practice area.