# Regulatory compliance

> How Sayproof applies the regulatory rules on consumer reviews in the product, and the obligations that remain with the brand.

Source: /en/security/compliance/

Sayproof is designed to operate in line with the following two instruments in Türkiye:

- The Turkish Ministry of Trade's **Regulation on Commercial Advertising and Unfair Commercial Practices**, in particular Article 28/B, which governs consumer reviews, as amended in Official Gazette No. 33297 of 1 July 2026, in force since 1 August 2026 (referred to on this page as the "Regulation").
- The Turkish Advertising Board's **Guideline on Consumer Reviews** (12 September 2023; referred to on this page as the "Guideline").

A significant part of the rules is applied in the product not as settings but as options that are never offered: if the product does not allow a rule to be broken, it does not need to be policed separately.

:::note
This page explains how Sayproof applies these rules and does not constitute legal advice. Consult your legal team about your own situation.
:::

## Regulation, Article 28/B

| Paragraph | Substance of the rule | How Sayproof implements it |
|---|---|---|
| 28/B-1 | Only a person who has bought the product may review it; reviews from channels where the purchase cannot be verified may not be published. | The right to write a review is based on the order record. Under the Türkiye market rules, a review without proof of purchase cannot be published. Reviews without proof are not imported from other sites; if you bring in reviews from a marketplace, only the reviews the marketplace marks as coming from buyers are taken, and they are published with their source shown ([Marketplace reviews](/en/features/marketplace-reviews.md)). |
| 28/B-2 | The publication rules are shown in the area where reviews are published or through a link; these rules may not prevent reviews about the product, delivery and similar matters or limit reviews to certain topics. | The method statement link is always present in the review section and cannot be removed. The method statement says that reviews about delivery, packaging, the seller, returns and price are published too. None of the rejection reasons limits a review to the product; "Not about the purchase" is only for reviews that have nothing to do with any part of the purchase. |
| 28/B-3 | Reviews under different headings are published in the same area, distinguishably and in an easily accessible way. | Reviews are shown in a single stream without being split into tabs. Process experience reviews written after a cancellation or return are also shown in the same stream, told apart by a label, and are not excluded from the average. |
| 28/B-4 | Reviews are published without distinguishing between positive and negative, without steering and according to objective criteria; the reason for not publishing a review is communicated to the consumer immediately. | Rejection reasons are a fixed list and contain no reason such as "negative". Sorting is limited to the criteria permitted by the Sayproof market rule; the Sayproof rule defaults to date, and a brand can choose another of these criteria as the default in its own version; sort requests outside the list are refused on the server. The rejection notice is sent automatically; the sending time is monitored and a warning is shown when the limit is exceeded. |
| 28/B-5 | Reviews containing health claims contrary to the legislation may not be published. | The health claim check holds such reviews for moderator approval before publication. |
| 28/B-6 | Reviews may be used in other channels only in a way that reflects their general nature. | This is the brand's obligation; see the "The brand's obligations" section below. The [Google product reviews](/en/integrate/google-reviews.md) file Sayproof prepares carries the market's published reviews whatever their rating, with none picked out. |
| 28/B-7 | If a complaint is reported as resolved, this is published without delay in the same place as the original review. | The resolution note is shown next to the review in the same stream. |
| 28/B-8 | No agreement may be made and no service may be bought to obtain untrue reviews. | The invitation email cannot contain coupons, discounts or incentives. The suspected fake review check runs on every review. |

## Guideline

| Article | How Sayproof implements it |
|---|---|
| 5/4: When an order is cancelled, the contract is terminated or the right of withdrawal is used, reviews limited to the experience up to the stage the purchase reached are also within the scope of a purchase. | For a cancelled or returned line, a shopping experience invitation is sent instead of a product invitation. The review goes through the same checks and the same approval, and is shown on the site with the label "Cancelled or returned order: covers the experience up to that point". For details, see [Invitations and emails](/en/features/invitations.md#process-invitation-after-a-cancellation-or-return). |
| 6/3: The verification process, whether all reviews are published, how the average rating is calculated and how sorting works are explained. | The method statement generates these four sections automatically for each channel and language, from the market rules and the publishing method that apply to that channel; each channel's site shows its own statement. |
| 6/4: Intermediary service providers use the "verified user" wording. | The "Verified buyer" badge is shown on every review that Sayproof has verified against an order record. A review imported from a marketplace carries no badge; its label says which site verified the purchase. |
| 6/5: The reason for not publishing a review is communicated without delay. | The rejection notice is queued for sending at the moment the review is rejected and is not affected by the list of people who do not want emails. |
| 6/6: A consumer whose review is rejected is given the opportunity to correct and resubmit it. | The rejection notice contains a time-limited correction link (30 days by default). |
| 7/2: Reasonable and proportionate checks are applied: email verification, automatic fake detection and a way to report suspicious reviews. | Purchase verification, six automatic checks and review reporting on the site. |
| 7/3: Positive and negative reviews are subject to the same checking process and the same time limits. | The publishing method cannot be tied to the rating. The **Statistics › Compliance** tab monitors the difference in rejection rates by rating and the decision times. |
| 7/4: Reviews relating to sellers whose activity has been terminated may be deleted. | The "The seller stopped trading" removal reason; the removal is recorded in the review's history. |
| 8/4: People who have not bought the product may not be steered towards writing a review. | No general "Write a review" button is shown to visitors who are not signed in; the form does not open before the order has been verified. |
| 8/5: Manipulative practices are prohibited; for example publishing only positive reviews, contacting the consumer to have a negative review withdrawn, or offering incentives only for positive reviews. | The rejection notice contains only the reason and is checked for steering expressions. Seller replies and resolution notes go through the same steering check before they are saved; a seller reply can also be rejected with the reason "Steering the customer to change the review". |
| 8/6: A review found to be misleading is removed immediately. | Removal with the reason "Found to be misleading"; the action cannot be undone and is recorded. |

## Records that can be presented in an audit

- **Review history:** For each review, who made the decision, when, with which reason and under which rules version. It cannot be changed.
- **Rules version:** Each review carries the market rules version in force when it was written; even if the rules change later, the rule applied on that date remains on record.
- **Audit report:** Period totals, the rejection rate by rating, reasons, removals, method changes, rules versions and the state of the method statements per channel and language. The report carries a verification code and cannot be changed; **Check a file** in the panel confirms that a JSON file you have is unchanged. For details, see [Overview, statistics and reports](/en/features/reports.md).
- **Activity history:** All actions performed in the panel; it can be downloaded as CSV, Excel or JSON.
- **Personal data access record:** Every read that shows customers' personal data, with who made it, when, through which route and how many records; it cannot be deleted and is kept for 365 days. It is shown on the **Activity history** › **Personal data access** tab: [Overview, statistics and reports](/en/features/reports.md#personal-data-access).

## European Union

In the EU, the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive (2005/29/EC) requires **disclosure**, not verification. Under Article 7(6) of the Directive, it must be stated whether and how the trader ensures that reviews come from consumers who have actually used or bought the product; point 23b of Annex I treats claiming that reviews come from real buyers without taking reasonable and proportionate steps to check this as an unfair commercial practice in all circumstances.

Under Sayproof's EU market rules, reviews without proof of purchase can also be published. Reviews with proof are marked, and the method statement explains how verification is carried out. The "Verified buyer" badge is shown only on reviews with proof.

## Invitation email

The invitation is designed as a **transactional email** that asks for an opinion about a delivered product and does not promote any product or service. It therefore does not require separate consent for commercial electronic messages. The email editor offers no coupon, discount, product recommendation or campaign sections; once such content is added, the email becomes a commercial electronic message and requires the recipient's consent. Every invitation contains a link to stop receiving emails.

## Personal data and retention

When a customer requests deletion, their personal data is deleted: their name, email address, photos and videos are deleted; their name and contact details in review, question and answer texts are replaced with marks; the contact details and order numbers on their orders are turned into irreversible pseudonyms. The review's rating, the rest of its text and its history continue to be kept. This way both the deletion request is fulfilled and the retention of published reviews is ensured. Even without a deletion request, the email address, phone and customer number on orders are turned into pseudonyms when the review writing period ends: [Retention periods](/en/security/data-protection.md#retention-periods).

When the brand's privacy notice link is set on the channel, it is shown under the review, question and answer forms and in the footer of the invitation email: [Editing a channel](/en/integrate/channels-and-keys.md#editing-a-channel). For details, see [Personal data requests](/en/features/personal-data.md).

## The brand's obligations

Obligations that Sayproof cannot fulfil within the product and that depend on the brand's own practices:

- **Sending accurate order data.** Order transfer is the brand's declaration. Sending an order that did not take place leads to a fake "verified" review being produced.
- **Not hiding the required elements.** In headless use, the brand must display these elements: [Required elements](/en/customize/required-elements.md).
- **Not steering customers.** Not asking customers, in seller replies, customer service or any other channel, to change or delete their review or to raise their rating; not offering incentives only for positive reviews.
- **Using reviews correctly in other channels.** In advertising and social media, using only reviews with proof of purchase and a selection that reflects the general nature of the reviews (Regulation, Art. 28/B-6).
- **Making decisions on time and impartially.** Following the warnings on the **Statistics › Compliance** tab.