Turkish Internet Law

E-commerce is the name given to the commercial activity in which products and services are sold by individuals or corporate brands over the internet. The e-commerce sector has become the most active channel of commerce, surpassing traditional merchandising, and is still developing.

The protection of intellectual property rights, e-commerce law, compliance with the law of rights and obligations arising from contractual relations, privacy, data security violations, competition law and protection of personal data in e-commerce brings with it many concerns about legal regulations.

As Kula Law Firm, we provide legal support to all our clients who are service providers, marketplace owners, sellers, social media influencers, or who have a relationship with e-commerce in any other capacity. We provide them with reliable, transparent and full-fledged legal consultancy services, aiming to protect their maximum interests, so that they can properly handle and manage all legal risks they are involved in within the framework of e-commerce activities.

We provide the following services to our clients within the scope of all regulations regarding e-commerce, including New Rules For Electronic Commerce.

Establishment of e-commerce legal infrastructure
We represent our clients in internet domain names, sales and leases and disputes that may arise.
We prepare website development agreements for you and represent our clients in case of disputes.
We provide services for the development of website terms and conditions and privacy policies
We provide services for compliance with new legal regulations.
We provide consultancy on website-based contests and sweepstakes
We provide legal support for removing content that violates your personal rights from the Internet.
We are preparing the texts of the policies that must be on your website as per Turkish legislation. such as privacy policy and cookie policy

E-commerce companies carry out their activities through the website of the relevant online store. E-commerce companies receive some personal data of users through any e-commerce site, through membership mechanisms or sometimes without membership. In this context, information such as user name, surname, address, phone number, identity number, payment details, areas of interest can be requested directly during shopping or when creating a membership on the site. This policy is a general text on why users' personal data is collected, how it is processed, how it is protected and with which partners it is shared. Within the scope of KVKK and GDPR, our expert team determines the personal data used by your website and prepares the most appropriate privacy policy for you in the legal sense.

The Cookie Policy is the text that informs about what data the cookies run on the website collect and how. Our expert team will prepare the most suitable cookie policy for your site.

E-commerce companies are required to share their privacy policies and the cookie methods they use with users, and to obtain a confirmation from data owners such as "yes", "I accept" and a method such as clicking or marking. Otherwise, e-commerce companies will be faced with unauthorized processing of information that they can only process with the consent of the consumer.

Again, this is one of the texts that should be prepared within the scope of KVKK. The Clarification Text is a text that should be prepared in relation to the relevant activity during the acquisition of personal data.

In addition to the protection of personal data, an explicit consent text should be prepared in order to inform your customers about the campaigns via e-mail or sms.

A distance sales contract is a contract that the consumer approves online for the sale of goods and services on e-commerce sites.

All these texts are indispensable for the legal benefit of your website.

Can you delete yourself on the internet? In order for the content to be unpublished, we request the removal of the published article by contacting the site where the content was published. In the event that our request results in a negative result or there is no response from the site in question, we resort to filing a lawsuit with the request of blocking access to the content and removing the content from publication.Our expert team will carry out this process for you.

Situations That Constitute The Blocking Of Access

In case of violation of personal rights or privacy, or if the content constitutes a crime, we may request the removal of the content or even the blocking of access for you.

Content Removal and Access Blocking Due to Violation of Personal Rights

Video, image, news, comment, etc. in a way that violates the personality rights of a person. If the content is shared on the internet, the person whose personal rights are violated may request the removal of the content or the blocking of access.

For example, a comment on the internet that someone is a bad person, does not pay their debts, uses/sells drugs, commits prostitution, lies; It is a clear violation of personal rights, and the person who has been violated may request the removal of the relevant comment and the blocking of access.

Access Blocking Process in Violation of Personal Rights

A person who thinks that a content on the Internet violates his personal rights can request the removal of the content by directly contacting the site administration, which is the content provider, or by contacting the hosting provider in case he cannot reach it; or by applying directly to the magistrate, requesting the blocking of access and removal of the content.

The judge concludes this application of the person within 24 hours at the latest, the judge; when it decides to block access due to violation of personality right, it sends this decision directly to the access providers union. This decision is finalized by the Association within 4 hours at the latest, and the process of blocking access/removing the content will be completed successfully.

Content Removal and Access Blocking Due to Crime

Through publications on the Internet; suicide, sexual abuse of children, facilitating the use of drugs or stimulants, supplying dangerous substances for health, obscenity, prostitution, providing a place and opportunity for gambling, the Law No. 5816 on Crimes Committed Against Atatürk; If there is sufficient doubt about the crimes in, a decision can be made to block access or remove the content.

Process of Blocking Access to Criminal Content

When the decision to block access and remove the content will be made in line with the crimes listed in this way, this decision is made by the magistrate if it is at the investigation stage, and by the trial court if it is at the prosecution stage. It will be carried out within 4 hours following the notification of the decision at the latest.

Again, in cases where delay is inconvenient, upon the request of the President or the relevant ministries, the President of the Information Technologies and Communications Authority may decide to block access and remove the content.

Access Blocking Due to Violation of Privacy

It is important to take faster measures in case of violation of the privacy of private life over the internet. Persons who claim that their privacy has been violated due to the content of the broadcast on the Internet may apply directly to the Information Technologies and Communications Authority (BTK) in person or through their lawyers and request the implementation of the measure to prevent access to the content.

Access Blocking in Case of Violation of Privacy

If the content that violates the privacy of private life is obscene, there is no need for the person to apply to the court due to urgency. The person whose right has been violated may request the blocking of access to the relevant site by applying directly to the Information Technologies Communication Authority.

After the evaluation of the relevant request by the head of the institution, if the request is deemed justified, a request is sent to the content providers union and the decision to block access is fulfilled within 4 hours.

There is no decision to remove content due to the urgency of the situation, the person who wants the content to be removed can also apply directly to the court and request the removal of the content.

Suspension of Access Service Due to Violation of the Law on Intellectual and Artistic Works (COPYRIGHT)

Violation of copyright, article, book, song lyrics, music, video, image, etc. belonging to someone else. It is possible for numerous reasons, such as using or publishing content over the internet. Accordingly, the person whose copyright has been violated should first apply to the content provider, and if the content provider does not remedy the violation, this time, a decision may be made to stop the service provided by the service provider to the content provider by applying to the prosecutor's office.

Process of Blocking Content for Copyright Infringement

One should first contact the content provider that shared the content. When there is no result, it starts the process for the service provider to stop the service by applying to the prosecutor's office. However, in both cases, the relevant content will be removed from the internet.

Removing Content and Blocking Access (News, Videos, Images, etc.) within the scope of the Right to Be Forgotten on the Internet

The right to be forgotten aims to eliminate the grievance caused by the news, sound, photograph, image or video recording of an event that a person has experienced in the past, which is reflected to the public through broadcasts on the internet. With the right to be forgotten, people can use these rights to request the blocking of access and the removal of the content. The process of blocking access and removing the content proceeds the same as the process of violation of personal rights.

Blocking Access and Removing Content for Public Interest

If there is one of the reasons for the protection of life and property of persons, the protection of national security and public order, the prevention of crime or the protection of general health, the decision of the Information Technologies and Communications Authority to remove the content and/or block access regarding the broadcast on the internet, upon the request of the ministries. can be given. In this way, removing content from the internet and blocking access is a procedure that is done through administrative means and only the relevant ministry has the authority to make a request.

Domain Name Disputes

We have extensive experience advising clients on domain name disputes under the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) and the Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (INDRP).

In the case of a domain name dispute, the rights holders concerned can apply to any dispute resolution service provider they wish and request the settlement of the dispute. The rights holder can apply to dispute resolution service provider if the following requirements are met:

The subject domain name is identical or confusingly similar to a trademark that the complainant has rights to or has used in trade or as a trade name.
The applicant for the subject domain name does not have rights or legitimate interests in respect of the domain name.
The subject domain name is registered or being used in bad faith.

"Uniform Policies for Settlement of Domain Name Disputes" (The Uniform Domain Name Disputes) created by ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers), the organization responsible for the registration of top-level domain names such as "com, info, org" Following the entry into force of the Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP), the “WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center” (Center) became operational for resolving such disputes. We make your WIPO application for you and run the process.

Electronic Fund Transfer System (EFT)
Turkish Lira Interbank Payment System
Turkish Lira Customers Payment System
Electronic Securities Transfer System (ESTS)
The Instant and Continuous Transfer of Funds (FAST) System
Google Pay
Maestro
Ewallets