Commercial Messaging Legislation of E-Commerce act in Turkey

[Shahzad_Ismail]

The following is a summary translated into English of the main points of the Commercial Messaging Legislation of e-Commerce Act in Turkey.

DEFINITIONS

CLAUSE 4: Commercial electronic message: (CEM) – Refers to any type of data, voice or video message that is sent for commercial means through electronic means such as telephone, call centre, fax, IVR, smart messaging voice mail systems, electronic mail, SMS.

Note: This is the initial definition of a commercial electronic message.  So at this point the law does not differentiate between transaction, marketing etc.

GENERAL INFORMATION

CLAUSE 5: Commercial interaction and commercial electronic message content

1. The commercial electronic message has to be has to be sent in line with the approval taken from the customer.
2. The CEM content has to include one/more of the following of the sender. Trade Name, Trade Mark, Company Name. 
3. In CEMs with limited space, such as SMS, the trade name can be used as shortened in line with the legislation.
4. In any CEM depending on the type, the sender has to provide one/more of the following: Phone number, fax number, shortcode, and email address. 
5. At the beginning of the message, the type of message should be identified such as promotion, information etc. This identification should be put on the beginning of the message on SMS, subject line on email and beginning of the message on IVR calls.
6. If there is any discount or promotions like gifts or games on the content, this should be identified very clearly.
7. The validity period and requirements for the promotions should be very clearly identified without any doubt via a URL address or call centre number that is easily accessible.

Notes: This section identifies the following: All messages should include company name or brand. Therefore, generic SMS for transactional content is not supported. Also, all content has to define itself meaning it needs to clearly identify whether it is a promotional, information, or transactional content.

CLAUSE 6: Pre-requisites for sending CEM

• The CEM can only be sent by pre-authorization from the user.
• Any types of message that can increase the image of the sender (such as greetings and holiday messages) are considered as CEM.

CLAUSE 10: Rejection Right and Opt-out Method

1. The recipients, at their own discretion and anytime, without any reason, has the right to reject receiving CEM. The usage of rejection right super cedes all the previous provisions given by the recipient. 
2. In the CEM, the sender has to provide a call centre number, shortcode or a type of URL that is only dedicated for opt-out method. If the CEM is sent through SMS, email, IVR or fax, the rejection method has to be easy to do and FREE OF CHARGE to the recipient.
3. For the opt-out option mentioned above, a short description has to be provided.
4. The opt-out option has to be provided in every single commercial electronic massage.

Notes: This section clears out all the clutter. The opt-out option has to be free of charge and has to be provided in every single commercial electronic message. Therefore, the opt-out option should be included in every single message sent to the recipient, let it be a marketing message or a transactional message. 

CLAUSE 11: The execution of opt-out request

• The sender, 3 working days after receiving the opt-out request, has to stop sending CEMs to the associated recipient.