This summary discusses law provisions on spamming prevention in Turkey. The discussion includes examples of international practice in this legal area. Usually spam comes in large volumes from unknown persons and it has commercial purpose. Turkey has no specific law on spamming prevention; however, there are some provisions in different acts used against spam producers.
Which provisions can be applied against spamming in Turkey? The antimonopoly provisions of the Turkish Commercial Act state that any message containing misleading information sent from one legal entity to another working in same sector shall be subject of legal warning or claim. Hence, these provisions do not apply if the sender of spam is a private individual.
According to Turkish Obligations Code, article 48 “false messages or other activities that conflict with good faith rules and mislead clients” are subject to suspension or indemnity for damages. This type of claim can only be initiated by the competitor's legal entity. The moral rules of Article 41 of the Turkish Obligations Code can also be applied to spamming. According to Articles 24 and 25 of the Turkish Civil Code, spamming can be claimed to be a violation of personal rights.
The most impacting way to claim spam in Turkey is provided by the Customers’ Rights Protection Act, article 16. According to this article, commercial advertisement and messages that are false, misleading, and not conforming to the rules of morality, may be referred to the Advertisement Committee, as they would incur a payment of fine.
According to Article 244 of the Turkish Criminal Code, e-mail addresses or other data illegally obtained from data information systems is subject to penalty. Under article 37 of the Turkish Misdemeanor Law, if a person disturbs another person while selling products or providing services, he/she must pay an administration penalty of 50 YTL (New Turkish Liras). Municipal police are empowered for this specific punishment.
