The influence of the European Union in the electronic commerce in Turkey

The commerce has been influenced by the rapid development of the technology and physical commerce has also gained presence in the digital world. Following the emergence of electronic commerce, the States, regional and international organizations has made new regulations concerning the electronic commerce and tried to comply with the development of electronic commerce. The Electronic Commerce Directive of 2000 of the European Union is one of the important regulations in the regional level. The European Union which enabled the free movement of persons, goods and capital and carried out the single market needed to provide digital single market to its nationals because of the development of the digitalization and enacted its Digital Single Market Strategy in 2015. Not only because of the globalization, but also due to its candidate country status, Turkey benefitted from the Electronic Commerce Directive of 2000 and considered the practices of the European Union while drawing up its legislation on electronic commerce. In this study, firstly current practices of European Union on the electronic commerce are explained generally and particularly in the Member States level; and afterwards, the information concerning the practices of electronic commerce legislation in Turkey. Lastly, it is analysed how the European Union effected Turkey in drawing up the related legislation. Key Words: Electronic Commerce, European Union, Digital Single Market, Electronic Commerce Directive, the Law on Electronic Commerce.