New opportunities

Turkish platforms could also be affected by the new rule, as they fall outside of the European Union. However, Hakan Cevikoglu, chair of the Türkiye-based E-Commerce Operators’ Association (ETID), says that it may not affect the country, but rather create opportunities.

‘We have legislation and practices fully aligned with the EU, particularly in product safety’

He noted that the EU’s concerns about issues like product safety, consumer rights, environmental concerns, trade balance and fair competition are valid. “We find these expectations to be reasonable, and we also support them—we have highly robust legislation and practices fully aligned with the EU, particularly in product safety, production and product standards, consumer rights, and environmental regulations”, he said. “Türkiye stands out with these among many other trading partners of the EU.”