The 'Traditional Consumer Awards Ceremony', organized for the 29th time this year by the Ministry of Commerce in order to improve consumer awareness and raise awareness by encouraging consumers to use their legal rights, was held at the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB) with the participation of Minister of Commerce Ömer Bolat. Avni Dilber, General Director of Consumer Protection and Market Surveillance of the Ministry of Commerce, made the opening speech of the ceremony, where conscious consumers as well as companies that stand out with their exemplary practices that take consumer satisfaction as a principle, academicians who conduct scientific studies in this field, and media representatives were rewarded.
'WE PROTECT THE CONSUMERS IN EVERY AREA'
Speaking afterwards, Minister Bolat said that they are trying to protect consumers in every field. Reminding that they are in the age of artificial intelligence, Minister Bolat said, "Many things are developing. Unfortunately, the fact that the digital age has become very widespread and very complex creates a fertile field for unfair and deceptive fraudulent practices of malicious people. That is why an important wing of the Ministry of Commerce is the protection of the consumer. This includes protection against deceptive and fraudulent advertisements and social media applications. There is protection in terms of subscription contracts. There is protection in terms of products obtained through e-commerce, which are not purchased by looking at them or physically touching them. Other purchased products." "It is important to protect consumer rights in all areas such as timeshare, holiday, education and health. We are trying to fulfill our supervisory function with the regulations we introduce and the inspections we carry out. At this point, we receive significant support from our citizens, consumer organizations, media organizations and our colleagues in the media," he said.
'CONSCIOUS CONSUMER, STRONG ECONOMY'
Minister Bolat said that consumer arbitration committees are especially important at this point and said, "We provide the majority of disputes between the seller and the consumer-buyer in an amicable manner through their mediation efforts. Therefore, our most important motto here is that the conscious consumer is the guarantee of a strong economy. The basis of a healthy economy is conscious consumption and conscious consumers. Today, if the Turkish economy has reached a national income of 1.7 trillion dollars and a national income per capita of 18 thousand 300 dollars, the producers, investors, sellers, "The power, guidance and conscious consumption of the consumer, as well as the actions of the traders, have a great benefit in this," he said.
'33 THOUSAND ADVERTISING FILES WERE DECISIONED'
Minister Bolat emphasized that the Advertising Board is independent and said, "It meticulously inspects television, radio, print media and internet advertisements. In addition, we also seriously carry out our supervision duties in the trade in social media advertisements. Here, effective decisions are taken against advertisements and promotions that deceive, exploit, create unfair competition and disrupt public order. This year alone, approximately 33 thousand advertising files were decided by the Advertising Board. And fines worth over 230 million liras were imposed and access to advertising was restricted. Our motto here is to fight effectively against deceptive and misleading advertising: 'Reliable advertising, justified constructive competition, healthy functioning fair market'. At the same time, we have zero tolerance for unsafe products, deceptions and abuses in the materials used in the products, which are made of materials that endanger the health and safety of the consumer, which are mostly toys, shoes, textiles, stationery, children's products, care products, cosmetics and detergents. "It is zero tolerance," he said.
Minister Bolat said that thanks to the conscious consumption of consumers and their warnings and inspections, the rate of mistrust in products, which was 32 percent in 2011, decreased to 1 percent today, which is a great success.
'19 MILLION FILES WERE SOLVED THROUGH MEDIATION'
Bolat said that there has been a penalty of 8.8 billion TL in the last 3.5 years against unsafe, unhealthy products and practices aimed at deceiving the consumer, and said, "1 million 150 thousand files have been decided. Since 1995, our Consumer Arbitration Committees have resolved 19 million applications through amicable mediation without going to court or engaging the judiciary. They quickly resolved the disputes between both the producer and the seller and the consumer. To our Consumer Arbitration Committees, "I thank the rapporteurs very much. This year alone, the amount of disputes resolved amicably by Consumer Arbitration Committees was 12.4 billion. Last year, 850 thousand and 690 thousand dispute files were resolved amicably in the 9 months of this year," he said.
AWARDS WERE GIVEN
