TESK’s reaction to the fines imposed on traders

Drawing attention to the disproportionate fines imposed on traders on various issues, TESK President Bendevi Palandöken said: “The administrative penalties imposed on our traders for various reasons are disproportionate and do not allow traders to survive. Fines imposed on merchants on many issues such as the copyright of radio and TV music playing in the store, penalties for mistakes in food companies and the sale of alcohol after the specified time can be high enough to cause merchants to close shops . Due to the pandemic, the penalties imposed on traders who have already passed the bottleneck should be proportional to the size of the company. In other words, as alcohol prices rise, the loss increases. This brings death with it. He said: “320 thousand lire is not right for 7 TL of beer”.

“MAKING THE STORES CLOSE”

Underlining the need to be paid the president of the Criminal Turkey Tradesmen and Artisans Confederation (TESK) Bendevi Palandöken, “Artisans and our artisans make a lot of turnover in many respects, perhaps faced with penalties of dimensions for years, unable to pay. For example, penalties such as copyright of music played by computer, TV or radio for sound only and have no effect on commercial sales and penalties for alcohol sales made after 10pm cause our merchants close their shops. The penalties to be imposed on shopkeepers who sell alcohol between 22.00 and 06.00 have been set up to 320 thousand TL and published in the Official Gazette. These amounts are almost as high as money for a house or a car. Our merchants abide by all the rules imposed by our state, but public institutions and organizations with the authority to impose administrative sanctions should act more fairly. The penalties must be payable and proportionate to the size of the company. The fact that the punishment inflicted on the factory with dozens of employees and the punishment given to small traders are the same cause of injustice. “