Consumer protection in electronic commerce

Improvements in information and communication technologies have affected the commerce as it is the case in every field of life and e-commerce has become a significant instrument to obtain economic development and social welfare. Today, the way to obtain competitive advantage in international commerce is achieved through using e-commerce as a tool. It is inevitable that countries, which form their legal and technical infrastructures most rapidly, will be dominant in e- commerce. E-commerce will grow together with the consumer trust. Law code number 4822 is a big step in protecting the consumer rights in e-commerce. The corrections made with the clause 9/A under the topic named "Distanced Contracts", clause 10/A under the topic named "Credit Cards" and clause 6 under the topic named "Wrong rules in contracts" are very important. Virtual properties are also considered as normal properties within these topics. This study examines the current structure and the stage of protection for consumer rights in Turkish law. This study focuses on the birth and the growth of e-commerce, its effects on economic and social life and the reasons why people choose e-commerce. The problems that the consumers deal with in e-commerce and the reconstruction of consumer rights were also analyzed. A structured-questionnaire was applied to some market researcheis, consumer associations and e-commerce websites in Turkey. Results of the study reveal that lack of legal infrastructure is a bigbarrier in front of e-commerce. To overcome this problem, regulations concerning electronic signature, trustcenter and electronic notary have to be dealt with priority and practices of alternative dispute-resolution methods have to be implied.