Regulation Amending the Regulation on Commercial Advertising and Unfair Commercial Practices Has Been Published

The Regulation Amending the Regulation on Commercial Advertising and Unfair Commercial Practices (the "Regulation"), prepared by the Ministry of Trade, was published in the Official Gazette dated 1 July 2026 and numbered 33297.

In summary, the Regulation introduces the following key amendments:

• In relation to targeted advertising based on the analysis of consumers' online behaviour, advertisers are now required to provide consumers with direct and easily accessible information explaining the criteria used to display advertisements and how those criteria can be modified. In addition, targeted advertising based on the profiling of children's personal data has been completely prohibited.
• Where social media influencers receive any form of benefit in return for their content, the use of clear disclosures such as "advertisement" or "promotion" has become mandatory to ensure that the commercial nature of the content is immediately apparent to consumers.
• Conditional sales promotions, under which discounts or benefits are granted only upon the fulfilment of certain conditions, have been brought within the scope of the rules governing discounted sales. For discounted sale advertisements, the previous price may now be displayed as the lowest price applied during the ten days preceding the commencement of the discount, shown with a strikethrough. For perishable goods such as fresh fruit and vegetables, the immediately preceding price will be taken as the reference price.
• The prohibition on advertising illegal betting and gambling has been expanded to include unauthorised games of chance. Furthermore, advertisements promoting services provided by fortune tellers, psychics, astrologers and similar individuals have been expressly prohibited.
• For consumer complaint platforms, the period granted to sellers and service providers to submit explanations before complaints are published has been reduced from 72 hours to 48 hours.
• Where advertisements feature AI-generated digital characters that are indistinguishable from real persons, advertisers must clearly and transparently disclose the use of artificial intelligence. In addition, advertisements creating the impression that an AI-generated digital replica of a real person has personally used or endorsed a product are prohibited.
• The use of broad environmental claims such as "environmentally friendly" without adequate explanation or substantiation has been prohibited.
• Advertisements suggesting that food supplements can replace a normal diet have been prohibited. At the same time, comparative advertising relating to matters other than health claims has been permitted. The Regulation also prevents the misleading or deceptive use of academic titles in commercial advertisements.
• The publication of consumer reviews obtained from platforms where the purchase process cannot be verified has been prohibited.

The Regulation will enter into force on 1 August 2026.

You can access full text of the Regulation here.