Recent Development
Regulation Amending the Regulation on Commercial Advertising and Unfair Commercial Practices (“Amendments”) was published in the Official Gazette dated 1 July 2026 and numbered 32597. The Amendments introduce significant changes to the Regulation on Commercial Advertising and Unfair Commercial Practices (“Regulation”), which governs commercial advertising practices in Türkiye.
The Amendments introduce new regulations in a wide range of areas, particularly targeted advertising, advertisements made through social media influencers, advertisements involving artificial intelligence technologies, environmental claims, discounted sale advertisements, loyalty programs, consumer reviews and complaint platforms. The Amendments will enter into force on 1 August 2026.
The Amendments are available here (in Turkish).
What Has Changed?
| Definitions Added to the Regulation | The Amendments expressly define the concepts of environmental claims, social media, social media influencers, and consumer reviews under the Regulation. While the Amendments clarify the scope of environmental claims, it also defines social media influencers as individuals who engage in marketing communications on social media in exchange for monetary or other benefits. The Regulation further clarifies that consumer reviews include not only comments, but also ratings, statements, endorsements, and ranking systems. |
| Discounted Sale Advertisements | On 11 October 2025, the Price Tag Regulation was amended to reduce the reference period used to determine the lowest price applied prior to a discount for products offered in physical stores. Accordingly, the relevant period was reduced from 30 days to 10 days preceding the discount. The Amendments also align the Regulation with the approach already adopted under the Price Tag Regulation for discounted sales. Accordingly, the period used to determine the reference price prior to a discount in online discounted sale advertisements has been reduced from 30 days to 10 days. As a result, the lowest price applied during the 10-day period preceding the start date of the discount must now be taken as the reference price in online advertisements. In addition, the Amendments incorporate into the Regulation a principle previously set out in the Guideline on Advertisements Containing Price Information and Discounted Sale Advertisements and Commercial Practices (“Guidelines”). Under this approach, where a product or service is offered through multiple channels, the pre-discount price must be determined by reference only to the price applied in the relevant channel in which the discount is offered. |
| Loyalty Programs | Prior to the Amendments, pursuant to the Advertising Board’s Principle Decision No. 2024/1 (“Principle Decision”) and Article 7(14) of the Guideline, advertisements relating to goods or services offered through loyalty programs could not create, directly or indirectly, the impression that a discount was being offered through the use of expressions such as “discount”, “saving”, “special discount/opportunity for cardholders/members”, or “pre-discount price”, or through visual elements such as crossed-out prices or downward trend graphs. This approach was based on concerns that price advantages offered under loyalty programs could create a misleading perception of discounts among consumers and facilitate misleading advertising practices through shadow pricing mechanisms. In practice, however, this approach significantly restricted the marketing and promotional activities of companies operating loyalty programs and created uncertainty as to whether benefits offered through loyalty programs could be promoted through discounted sale advertisements. Under the new provision added to Article 14 of the Regulation, advertisements relating to loyalty programs established to strengthen consumers’ relationship with a particular brand, seller, or provider, or to encourage the purchase of goods or services, are now subject to the rules applicable to discounted sale advertisements where the relevant loyalty program is easily accessible or usable by consumers. Thus, with regard to the debates over whether loyalty-program-specific price advantages would be deemed non-compliant by the Advertisement Board prior to the Amendments, the Amendments now envisage loyalty program memberships being promoted through discounted sale advertisements. Nevertheless, as such advertisements are now subject to the rules governing discounted sale advertisements, obligations relating to the determination of the pre-discount price, including the requirement to take into account the lowest price applied within the preceding 10-day period, will also apply. |
| Conditional Sale Advertisements | Prior to the Amendments, campaigns such as “buy 3, pay for 2”, “buy one, get one free”, or campaigns offering a benefit subject to a specific purchase condition were not treated as discounted sale advertisements under the Guidelines. The Amendments expressly provide that conditional sale advertisements are subject to the rules applicable to discounted sale advertisements, except for the provisions relating to the display of the quantity of goods or services. As a result, such campaigns, which were previously not subject to the rules governing discounted sale advertisements, now fall within the scope of the obligations applicable to discounted sale advertisements. |
| Environmental Claims | The Amendments incorporate into the Regulation certain requirements previously set out under the Guideline on Advertisements Containing Environmental Claims No. 328. Accordingly, certifications, verifications, approvals, and similar claims included in advertisements containing environmental claims must be substantiated by information and documents obtained from competent authorities or institutions. In addition, the Amendments prohibit the use of general environmental claims without any accompanying explanation or in a manner that may create ambiguity for consumers. Furthermore, the Regulation now requires advertisers to clearly indicate the specific aspect of the product, service, or production process to which the environmental claim relates and to provide consumers with access to detailed information regarding the methods used to measure and assess environmental impacts through a website, pop-up screen, or similar mechanism. |
| Advertisements Generated Using Artificial Intelligence | Explicit rules on advertisements generated using artificial intelligence technologies have been introduced for the first time. In this respect, advertisements using digital characters that are difficult to distinguish from real individuals must clearly and explicitly inform consumers that such characters have been created using artificial intelligence technologies. In addition, the Amendments prohibit the use of digital replicas of real individuals generated through artificial intelligence technologies in a manner that creates the false impression that the individual has personally experienced, used, or recommended the relevant product or service. |
| Advertisements by Social Media Influencers | Although advertisements through social media influencers have long been subject to Advertising Board decisions and are already regulated under the Guideline on Commercial Advertisements and Unfair Commercial Practices by Social Media Influencers, the Amendments introduce, for the first time, explicit regulation-level rules governing such advertisements. Accordingly, in line with the requirements set out under the Guideline on Commercial Advertisements and Unfair Commercial Practices by Social Media Influencers, where social media influencers receive a fee, free product, discount, service, or any similar benefit in return for a content, the advertising nature of the content must be clearly disclosed. In this respect, posts must include either the wording “Advertisement” or “Promotion”, in addition to the advertiser’s name or trade name, or one of the disclosures revealing the commercial relationship with the advertiser, such as “Provided by @[advertiser]”, “Thanks to @[advertiser] for sending me the products”, or “Thanks to @[advertiser]”. The Regulation also provides that such disclosures and mentions must be presented in a manner that is visible at first glance, easily readable by consumers, and clearly distinguishable from other content. |
| Targeted Advertising | Targeted advertising is defined as “the practice of presenting advertising content specifically to certain individuals or groups by sellers and providers, or intermediary service providers facilitating the conclusion of distance contracts on their behalf, through the analysis of consumers’ online behavior, records relating to their preferences, location data, demographic data, or similar personal data.” For targeted advertising activities, consumers must be provided with direct and easily accessible information regarding the criteria used to display advertisements and how such criteria may be modified. In addition, targeted advertising based on profiling techniques using personal data is prohibited where it is known, or can reasonably be expected to be known, that the consumer is a child. |
| Food Supplements | The Amendments expressly prohibit advertisements that create the impression that food supplements may replace normal nutrition. In addition, while all comparative advertising relating to food supplements was prohibited prior to the Amendments, the new rules partially lift this restriction. Accordingly, food supplements may be subject to comparative advertising, except in relation to matters falling within the scope of health claims. |
| Consumer Reviews | The Regulation already required the verification of whether published reviews and ratings were submitted by consumers who had actually purchased the relevant product or service. Nevertheless, considering that reviews and ratings reflecting consumers’ experiences with purchased goods and services constitute significant factors influencing purchasing decisions, particularly in the context of online shopping, the Ministry of Trade initiated investigations into unverified consumer reviews. Following such investigations, the Advertising Board imposed administrative fines on certain companies whose commercial practices involved the publication of reviews that could not be verified. In addition to the existing verification requirement, the Amendments prohibit the publication of consumer reviews obtained through channels where verification of the purchasing process is not possible. Furthermore, the Guidelines on Consumer Reviews already regulated that consumer reviews may relate not only to the purchased goods or services themselves, but also to the seller, provider, or intermediary service provider, as well as ancillary contracts such as delivery, credit, and insurance services. The relevant guidelines also provided that businesses may not adopt practices restricting consumers’ ability to submit reviews regarding such matters. The Amendments have now incorporated this approach into the Regulation. |
| Complaint Platforms | The Amendments reduce the 72-hour period granted to sellers and providers that are the subject of reviews on complaint platforms to reply before the review is published to 48 hours. Accordingly, sellers or providers that are the subject of a review must be granted 48 hours to exercise their right to reply. If no explanation or response is provided within this period, the review will be published directly. |
| Compliance Period | The Amendments will enter into force on 1 August 2026. Accordingly, a one-month transition period has been granted to allow relevant stakeholders to align their practices with the new requirements. |
Conclusion
With the Amendments, rules governing digital advertising practices are now specified in greater detail, and many of the principles adopted by the Advertising Board through its guidelines and decisions in recent years were incorporated into the Regulation. In this regard, the Amendments introduce new obligations relating to targeted advertising, advertisements through social media influencers, advertisements generated using artificial intelligence technologies, environmental claims, and consumer reviews, while reshaping the rules applicable to discounted sale advertisements. Advertisers, e-commerce platforms, sellers, providers, and social media influencers should assess the Amendments and take the necessary steps to ensure compliance with the new requirements.
