TÜRKIYE Law and Practice Contributed by: Tansu Akin, Akin Legal
Law rules, the claimant must prove the existence of a production or design defect in the product that caused the damages. The manufacturer or the importer would then be held liable for all damages due to product defects. Liability exclusion, or indemnification provided before damage occurs, is prohibited. For food, pharmaceuticals and automotive prod - ucts, specific secondary regulations are in place that establish strict liability conditions. In recent years, the Court of Appeals has signifi - cantly broadened the scope of product liability in favour of consumers/customers. Notably, the court ruled that the statute of limitations does not apply to hidden defects, effectively extend - ing the limitation period to ten years from the product’s delivery. Moreover, the court shifted the burden of proof to the manufacturer once the claimant establishes that the damage resulted from the defective product. This means that the manufacturer must prove they were not negli - gent. 1.2 Regulatory Authorities for Product Safety Generally, the Ministry of Industry and Ministry of Commerce are the two main regulators (authori - ties) for product safety matters. While the Ministry of Industry focuses on the manufacturing aspect, ensuring compliance with the technical regulations and initiating recalls for serial defects. Conversely, the Ministry of Trade concentrates on the market side, preventing the entry of defective goods into the market and restricting their marketing. In essence, the Min - istry of Industry adopts a bottom-up approach, while the Ministry of Trade regulates with a top- down approach.
Apart from the two main authorities, specific ministries or semi-independent agencies have their own surveillance and regulatory respon - sibilities. The key regulatory bodies and their respective legislation include the following: • The Ministry of Commerce has a series of communiques for import inspection and mar - ket surveillance of almost all types of prod - ucts, including medical, agricultural, textile, etc (Communiques 2025/01 to 2025/27 on Product Safety and Inspection). • The Ministry of Industry implements exten - sive regulations for the inspection of indus - try goods (General Inspection and Market Surveillance Regulation and Special Inspec - tion and Market Surveillance Regulation for Automotive Products). • The Pharmaceuticals Law No 1262 estab - lishes specific rules for pharmaceuticals and vaccines, serving as the basis for detailed secondary legislation and authorising the Ministry of Health and its semi-autonomous agencies. • The General Directorate of Customs has the authority to test all products imported to Turkey for homologation and standardisation compliance. • The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry con - ducts inspections on foods, substances and materials intended to come into contact with foodstuffs. The authority of those government bodies varies depending on the nature of the product. For strictly regulated products like pharmaceuti - cals, food, or automotive products, the relevant authority acts as the approval agency. Manufac - turing or importing these products necessitates homologation and approval from these authori - ties.
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