Mediation and Mediation Fee in Consumer Disputes

Consumer is defined as a person who acts for non-commercial or non-professional purposes, according to Article 3/1 of the Consumer Protection Law No. 6502.

As for the consumer transaction, TKHK No. 6502 art. According to the provision of 3/1-L; “Work, transportation, brokerage, insurance, power of attorney, banking and similar contracts established between consumers and natural persons or legal entities acting for commercial or professional purposes, including public legal entities, or acting on their behalf or on account, in the goods or service markets. “All kinds of contracts and legal transactions, including consumer transactions” are defined as consumer transactions. Not only consumer transactions but also consumer-oriented practices are covered by the law.

In consumer disputes, one party must be the consumer and the other party must be the provider of goods and services. As of July 28, 2020, applying to a mediator before filing a lawsuit has become a condition for disputes heard in Consumer Courts in Turkey. (TKHKMd.73A -1) As of 2020, the monetary limit of the district consumer arbitration committee is 6,920 TL. The district consumer arbitration committee is responsible for handling disputes up to this amount. The monetary limit of the provincial arbitration committee is 10,390 TL. If the dispute exceeds this amount, Consumer Courts have jurisdiction. In disputes that are above the monetary limit of the consumer arbitration committee, it is mandatory to resort to mediation before filing a lawsuit. If a lawsuit is filed without mediation, the lawsuit filed will be rejected due to the absence of a lawsuit requirement. However, even if the amount in dispute is below the specified monetary limits, that is, it is within the duty of the arbitral tribunal, the parties may optionally initiate the mediation process.

Examples of consumer disputes whose litigation requirement is within the scope of mediation are; defective goods and services, installment sales, housing finance contracts, consumer loans, distance contracts, timeshare and long-term holiday service contracts, package tour contracts, subscription contracts, legal disputes arising from after-sales services, attorney fee contracts.

Disputes whose litigation requirement is not within the scope of mediation, as regulated in the first paragraph of the Law on Consumer Protection 73/A, disputes that remain in the jurisdiction of the consumer arbitration committee, objections to the decisions of the consumer arbitration committee, disputes that are in the nature of a consumer transaction and arise from the same of the real estate, detection of defects, requests for injunctions, The provisions of litigation and mediation will not apply in cases of suspension of production or sales, recall of goods and other cases listed in the law.

THE CONSUMER WILL NOT BE IMPOSED WITH JUDGMENT EXPENSES.

Consumer protection law aims to protect the weak against the powerful. As a result of this, with the amendment brought by the second paragraph of TKHK73/A, the consumer has been exempted from the sanction of litigation expenses. Accordingly, the eleventh paragraph of Article 18/A of the Law on Mediation in Civil Disputes No. 6325 does not apply against the consumer. The fact that the consumer does not attend the first mediation meeting without a valid excuse does not apply against the consumer. In this case, if the mediation process ends, the consumer will not be responsible for the litigation expenses. In a mediation activity that ends if both parties do not attend the first meeting, when a lawsuit is filed, the court leaves the litigation expenses to the parties.

CONSUMER WILL NOT PAY MEDIATION FEES

In accordance with Article 73A-3 of THKK, in case the parties cannot be reached, the consumer does not attend the first meeting, agreement or disagreement, the consumer will not pay any fee. In this case, according to the mediation minimum wage tariff, the fee for up to the first two hours is covered by the budget of the Ministry of Justice. Fees exceeding two hours are covered by the parties.

Unlike other litigation-based mediation practices, in case of agreement, the fee that the consumer must pay is covered by the Ministry of Justice. Regardless of the agreed figure, the ministry pays the mediation fee for the consumer, and this fee is equal to the first two hours of the mediation minimum wage tariff. This is the legal regulation and the parties may decide otherwise. In other words, the parties can make an agreement that the other party, instead of the Ministry, will cover the mediation fee incurred by the consumer. As of 2020, this fee is 340 TL for two hours and this fee is covered by the Ministry of Justice.

If an agreement is reached for the other party service or goods provider, a fee calculated at the rate of 3% of the agreement price (provided that it is not less than 340 TL) is paid to the mediator.

If no agreement is reached, the mediation fee is covered by the Ministry of Justice. In this case, the mediation fee is 680 TL. When the lawsuit to be filed is concluded in favor of the consumer, this fee will be collected from the other party in accordance with the provisions of the law no. 6183 on the collection procedure of public receivables.

As can be seen, the consumer who applies to the mediator will not pay any fees, expenses or similar fees, nor will he pay any mediation fee.

This regulation provides the protection of the weak consumer and the possibility of a solution within 28 days in the face of long-lasting trials; Since it does not require any fee from the consumer under any name during the mediation process, it has contributed to the strengthening of the social state understanding aimed at protecting the consumer, in line with the purpose of the Law on Consumer Protection.