Legal requirements for websites in Türkiye: a current calendar
In Türkiye, the legal duties that touch a website are not gathered in a single law. Accessibility comes from a presidential circular; cookies and form data from the data protection law (KVKK) and the guidance of its authority; health and legal websites from their own professional rules; and online shops from the Ministry of Trade’s regulations. The table below brings each one together — who it covers, its date, the official source, and where we explain it in more detail.
This page is a compilation, not legal advice. Please confirm your own site’s position with a lawyer, your professional body or the authority concerned. Several of our detailed articles on these rules are written in Turkish only; we mark them where we link to them.
The calendar in one table
We prepared this table as of 23 October 2026. Rows are grouped by subject: accessibility and data protection first, then rules for particular professions, and trade regulations last.
| Regulation | Who it covers | Date / status | Official source | Our related article |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Presidential Circular 2025/10 on the accessibility of websites and mobile apps, first group | Public bodies, universities, municipalities, banks, private hospitals, private schools, private passenger carriers, Group A travel agencies, large telecoms operators | Published in the Official Gazette (Resmî Gazete) on 21 June 2025. Compliance period: one year; the circular does not state a start date. Check the official text in the Official Gazette. | Official Gazette, Ministry of Family and Social Services | Accessible websites |
| The same circular, second group | E-commerce service providers under Law No. 6563 | Compliance period: two years; no start date is stated. Check the official text in the Official Gazette. | As above | Accessible websites |
| KVKK Guide on Cookie Practices (current edition) | Every site that uses cookies to process personal data | The July 2025 edition is current. The first edition appeared in 2022. | Personal Data Protection Authority | KVKK-compliant websites (in Turkish) |
| Amendment to Article 9 of Law No. 6698 (KVKK), and the regulation on transfers abroad | Sites using form, analytics, email or hosting services based outside Türkiye | The amendment took effect on 1 June 2024. The regulation was published on 10 July 2024. | KVKK, transfers abroad | KVKK-compliant websites (in Turkish) |
| Regulation on Promotion and Information Activities in Health Services | Health professionals, health facilities, international health-tourism intermediaries | Published in Official Gazette No. 33075 on 12 November 2025, in force the same day. The 2023 regulation it replaced was repealed. Check the official text in the Official Gazette. | Official Gazette | Clinics and doctors |
| Amendment to the Union of Turkish Bar Associations’ (TBB) Advertising Ban Regulation | Lawyers, law partnerships, law offices, trainee lawyers | Published in Official Gazette No. 32627 on 9 August 2024. Websites were given three months from publication to comply; that period ended in November 2024. Check the official text in the Official Gazette. | Official Gazette | Law firms |
| Registration with the Electronic Commerce Information System (ETBİS) | E-commerce providers selling goods or services on their own site | Registration is required before trading starts. Changes to registered details must be reported within 30 days. The underlying communiqué has been in force since 11 August 2017. | Ministry of Trade | Commissioning an online shop |
| Amendment to the Regulation on Commercial Advertising and Unfair Commercial Practices | Sites publishing adverts or discounts, online shops, sites showing customer reviews | Published in Official Gazette No. 33297 on 1 July 2026. In force from 1 August 2026. | Ministry of Trade | Commissioning an online shop |
| Amendment to the Price Label Regulation | Restaurants, cafés, patisseries and other food and drink businesses | Published in Official Gazette No. 33044 on 11 October 2025 and in force. | Ministry of Trade | Restaurant website or QR menu? |
Has the accessibility deadline passed?
We cannot give a firm deadline, because the circular does not state a start date. It gives the periods only as “within one year” and “within two years”. The dates below are an interpretation, not the circular’s wording. On the common reading — counting from the date of publication — the deadline for first-group bodies would have passed in June 2026, and the two-year period for e-commerce providers would end in June 2027. Please check the official text in the Official Gazette and confirm your own deadline with a lawyer.
Under the circular, bodies that miss the deadline may have their details made public. Sites found accessible earn the right to use the Ministry’s Accessibility Logo for two years. The yardstick is the Ministry’s Level A checklist, based on WCAG 2.2 — the W3C’s international accessibility guidelines. We explain what the checklist asks for on our accessible websites page.
If your business is not named in the circular, no deadline applies to you. Your visitors still include people with sight, hearing or motor impairments, though, and building a new site accessibly from the start is far less work than fixing it later.
What has changed under KVKK?
Two changes affect websites directly. KVKK — Law No. 6698 — is Türkiye’s personal data protection law, overseen by the Personal Data Protection Authority.
The first is the Authority’s Guide on Cookie Practices. The current edition, dated July 2025, sets out which cookies need explicit consent, how a cookie banner should be designed, and when first-party analytics cookies may be used without consent. Practical design rules follow from it — “Accept” and “Reject” offered on equal terms, and consent-based options switched off by default.
The second concerns transfers of data abroad. Article 9 of Law No. 6698 was amended, with effect from 1 June 2024, and the regulation setting out the procedures followed on 10 July 2024. For a website the question is simple: do form submissions, analytics data or emails end up on a server outside Türkiye? If so, the transfer mechanism and the way it is described in the privacy notice should be reviewed.
Which sites do the professional rules affect?
Health and law are the two fields that restrict a site’s content most.
Health. The regulation in force since 12 November 2025 replaced the 2023 version. For the date and issue number, check the official text in the Official Gazette. Advertising is banned; promotion and information are permitted within set principles. Advertising through patient thank-you messages, prices and campaigns cannot appear on the site. Websites must also show the date of the last update and contact details for the site’s editor. See our clinics and doctors page and websites for psychologists and doctors.
Law. The August 2024 amendment to the TBB Advertising Ban Regulation lists, item by item, what a lawyer’s website may contain. Publishing references or client details is prohibited, as are techniques aimed at ranking higher in search engines. Sites were given three months to comply, and that period is long over. For the date and issue number, check the official text in the Official Gazette. As bar associations may read the rules differently, please confirm the current position with your own bar. Our law firms page shows how we structure such sites.
What should online shops watch?
If a site sells, this is the busiest heading.
- ETBİS registration. According to the Ministry of Trade, providers selling on their own site must register with ETBİS before they start trading, and report changes to registered details within 30 days. The Ministry states that those selling only through domestic marketplaces have no separate registration duty.
- Adverts, discounts and reviews. Since 1 August 2026, the reference price for a discount is the lowest price applied in the ten days before the discount began. Customer reviews taken from channels where the purchase cannot be verified may not be published. Adverts using AI characters indistinguishable from humans must say so. For targeted advertising, the criteria behind an advert must be easy for the consumer to find, and targeted advertising to children based on profiling of personal data is banned.
- Accessibility. E-commerce providers fall within the circular’s second group.
- Sales documents. The distance sales contract, the pre-contract information form, and the returns and withdrawal terms are part of the checkout flow. We recommend preparing their content with a lawyer; we explain where they sit on the site in commissioning an online shop.
The advertising rules also apply to sites that announce campaigns without selling online. One example: general phrases such as “eco-friendly” may not be used without an explanation.
What applies to food and drink businesses?
Since the October 2025 amendment to the Price Label Regulation, restaurants, cafés and patisseries may offer their price list by QR code. If a customer asks, the list must also be shown physically. Businesses meeting criteria set by the Ministry must also send their price list information to the Ministry through an electronic system. We look at how a QR menu and a website work together in restaurant website or QR menu?
How to apply this calendar to your own site
Not every row applies to every site. To work out your own position, we suggest this order:
- Identify your sector. Health, law, food and drink, e-commerce — or a body in the circular’s first group?
- List the site’s data. Which forms, which cookies, which third-party services? In which country do they process data?
- List the legal pages. Privacy notices, the cookie notice, any sales contracts. Note when each was last updated.
- Mark the relevant rows. For each, decide: compliant, gap, or out of scope.
- Give each gap an owner. Missing wording is the lawyer’s job; design and code gaps belong to the web team.
- Set the next review date. As the rules change, so does this list.
We suggest making this check part of regular maintenance. Going back through the sources in the table every three months, and noting which pages a new rule or deadline affects, is a sensible rhythm. We describe the rest of that work in why website maintenance matters.
Frequently asked questions
Which legal duty applies to every website in Türkiye?
Every site that processes personal data falls under KVKK. A contact form, cookies, an analytics tool or an embedded map all mean the site processes personal data, which brings a duty to inform visitors. The other rules depend on the sector and on whether the site sells.
Does the accessibility circular cover small businesses?
The circular names the bodies and businesses it covers, and a private practice, a law office or an architecture studio is not on the list. If you sell through your site, though, you should check whether you count as an e-commerce provider in the second group. We recommend confirming your position with a lawyer.
How often do you update this table?
We update it when a new regulation is published, or when the status of a deadline in the table changes. The date on the page is the date of the last check. Before relying on any rule, please read the current text at the official source.
What happens if my site does not comply?
It depends on the rule. KVKK provides for administrative fines and complaints to its Board; the e-commerce law provides for administrative fines; the professional rules can lead to disciplinary action. For your own situation, please consult a lawyer.
If you would like your site reviewed against this table, see our SEO and maintenance service; to build a new site on these rules from the start, see web design. You can write to us to share the scope; we reply within two working days.