Turkey has introduced regulations for electronic equipment aimed at protecting the safety of people, property and animals. The rules apply to electrical equipment designed for use between 50 and 1,000 Volts for alternating current, and between 75 and 1,500 Volts for continuous current. Rules include minimum standards for market entry, labelling, testing and recall of electronic devices.
Turkey’s Ministry of Industry and Technology (“Ministry”) published the Regulation on Electrical Equipment Designed for Use within Certain Voltage Limits (“Regulation”) in Official Gazette number 29845 on 2 October 2016, entering into effect on the same date.
Notable provisions introduced by the Regulation include:
- To be offered to the market, electronic equipment must be built in line with the best engineering techniques and must not endanger humans, domestic animals or goods provided that they are installed and preserved appropriately and used in the intended manner.
- The Ministry will ensure that electricity suppliers do not request harder safety measures to interconnect and supply energy to the electronical equipment users.
- Producers must execute sample tests of electronical equipment in the market once required, addressing potential risks, make examinations. If necessary, producers must undertake trace and registration activities for complaints about recalled electronic devices (and inform distributors about the complaints).
- Producers must ensure electronic devices carry certain information, or include this information on packaging or documentation (if the equipment’s size or construction prevents the information being added to the device itself). Information must include:
- Type, parcel or serial number or another distinguishing mark.
- Producer’s name.
- Registered trade names.
- Registered trademarks.
- Communications address.
- Instructions and safety information should be provided with electronic devices, in Turkish (or a language understood by consumers and accepted by the Ministry), in the format determined by the Ministry. The information must be clear, comprehensible and readable.
- Electronic devices must comply with the Regulation in order to be launched to the Turkish market.
- Distributors who know (or should know) about products which fail to meet the Regulation’s standards must take measures to rectify the failure, recall the products, and if necessary, remove them from the market.
The following electrical equipment is excluded from the new rules:
- Equipment designed for explosive atmospheres.
- Equipment for use in radiology and medicine.
- Elevators designed for people or cars.
- Electric meters, sockets and plugs which are designed for domestic use.
- Electrical hedge controllers.
- Radio electrical statics.
- Equipment designed for use in ships, plane or railroads.
- Kits which are manufactured to be used by professionals for research and development services.
Please see this link for the full text of the Regulation (only available in Turkish).
