98 / 522
require the prior consent for the first e-mail; however the recipient may
further prevent receipt of other e-mails at any time.
As far as Art. 8 of the E-Commerce Law is concerned, it is
observed that the “opt-out” system is not completely rejected by the E-
Commerce Law. In accordance with the said provision, the recipients
may refuse to receive commercial electronic communications without
any cause even though they have provided their consent beforehand.
The same provision regulates the obligations of the service provider
regarding the easy and accessible notification of refusal of further
communication, inclusion of necessary information regarding the
refusal notification in the communication and cessation of further com-
munication within three days following the refusal notification.
Additionally, the opt-out system is accepted as the principal system for
the electronic commercial communication concluded with craftsmen
and merchants pursuant to the Art. 6/1 of the E-Commerce Law.
Regulations Regarding the Protection of Personal Data
E-Commerce Law Art. 10 regulate the obligations of the service
provider and intermediary service provider concerning the protection
of personal data. Accordingly, the service providers and intermediary
service providers are responsible for the preservation and protection of
the personal information of the recipient, which are obtained due to the
transactions concluded within the scope of E-Commerce Law.
Moreover, they are not entitled to use such data for any other purpos-
es and to disclose such data to any other third party without the con-
sent of the recipient. This provision aims to harmonize the Turkish leg-
islation with the Directive numbered 2002/58/EC.
Conclusion
The E-Commerce Law aims to define the terms such as service
provider, electronic commercial communication and recipient,
emerged especially after internet access became widespread and to
regulate the relations between these terms in order to bring harmo-
nization with the EU legislation. The law regulates the service
provider’s obligation to provide information and the content and
exceptions of such obligation. In addition to this, the E-Commerce
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