We call the branch of law, in which the regulations on consumer transactions are made and the rights and protection type of consumers are laid down, as Consumer Law. It should be noted that although the protection of consumer in this legal field takes a large part, there are also other rules concerning other matters related to the consumer transactions.
Mass production has spread with the Industrial Revolution and this situation result in the power generation of producers. The concept of consumer emerged at this times has revealed the idea of preserving consumer who is in a weak position against growing producers. The development of Consumer Law field has started in this way. This law, which was formed around economic protection only in early days, developed day by day and the concepts such as consciousness of consumers and organizing for the recovering of damages of consumers or prevention of damage from the beginning emerged. Towards the end of 20th century, Consumer Law has continued its development by spreading to the whole world and has begun to show its influence in our country. The purpose of the former Consumer Protection Law numbered 4077, by means of its own description, is taking measures that will provide protection for health, security and economic benefits of consumer, encouraging consumers to take self-protective initiatives and regulating the issues of encouraging voluntary organizations in the formulation of policies in this respect.
Consumer Law, which is the foundation of the Anglo-Saxon legal system, contextually carries qualities that are special to both public and private law. Even if Obligations law that regulates the debt relations among individuals and the consumer process that constitutes the issues of Consumer Law have many similarities, the contract liberalization principle in Obligations Law has not been accepted as understood by the government ordering rules to protect consumer in Consumer Law. With such specific qualities, Consumer Law does not exist under the title of Obligations Law but exist as a separate legal entity.
The most important of the issues that constitute the content of Consumer Law is, of course, consumer rights. Although this area has emerged in the 19th century, the first usage of consumer rights as a concept has been in the mid-20th century. These rights, which have also been developed by the contributions of international organizations since then, have taken their final form in the form of 8 basic principles determined by the International Consumer Association. These rights, which came into force with the former Consumer Protection Law published in 1995 in our country, are as follows:
- The right to meet basic needs
- Security right and the right to trust
- The right to get information
- The right to choice
- The right of representation (notify the voice)
- The right of compensation
- The right to be educated
- The right to have a healthy environment
Our main source of consumer rights (apart from the constitution which is the most fundamental law) is Consumer Protection Law numbered 6502 and dated 2013. The issues related to the consumer rights were regulated only by this law and this situation caused some criticisms. Besides these criticisms, which focus on the idea that regulating different issues related to the subject with different laws in other country will help to organize every rights in detail, there are also opinions that find the idea of existence of a single law, which will be as provision of bag law, and leaving specific cases to the simpler methods such as regulations as positive. In addition, the descriptions in this law are also important. Because, they are elements that help us to understand whether a transaction is a consumer or whether a person considered a consumer. According to the definition included in this law, while consumer transaction is every kind of agreement or legal process, including work, transportation, jobbing, insurance, deputation, banking and similar agreements, established between consumers and natural or legal persons, including al