Türkiye

Information exchange, Türkiye

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Competition law, at its core, is a case law based practice. The natural habitat of enforcement for competition rules is the consolidation of bilateral and multilateral commercial relationships that we came to know as the system of economy. In an effort to maximize the consumer welfare (and eventually the total welfare via innovation and creative…

European Union, Merger control, Misleading information, Türkiye

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Mergers and acquisitions are effective tools for boosting innovation and commercial advancement. With the rising globalism in the circulation of goods and services, undertakings are forced to seek mutually beneficial collaborations to refrain from being outmaneuvered by the creative destruction that defines the way of doing business in the modern day. Vertical integrations that may…

Labour market, Türkiye

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Introduction When competition law is considered, first issues that come to mind are anticompetitive agreements between competitors, abusive unilateral practices of dominant undertakings and mergers that restrict competition in relevant product or service markets. The foregoing practices are condemned as they lead to an increase in the end-user prices in the short or the long…

Resale price maintenance, Türkiye

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Introduction In May 2019, Turkish Competition Authority (“TCA”) has published two reasoned decisions, namely Bfit Decision[1] and Minikoli Decision[2], in which it assesses the resale price maintenance (“RPM”) activities of the concerned undertakings. These decisions bear significance since they represent the TCA’s unstable approach towards RPM activities. In the aforementioned cases, the TCA adopted an…

Exemptions, Türkiye

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While the Article 4 of the Turkish Competition Act prohibits the anticompetitive agreements, concerted practices and decisions, Article 5 covers the exemption from this prohibition as in the 101(3) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (“TFEU”). According to the Article 5 of the Competition Act, Turkish Competition Authority (“TCA”) can grant…

Abuse of dominance, Electricity, Türkiye

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In 2018 the Turkish Competition Authority (“TCA”) had issued three landmark decisions regarding the Turkish electricity sector. These decisions concern the largest incumbent companies operating providing electricity distribution and retail sale services in various regions of Turkey, namely; CK[1], Enerjisa[2] and Bereket[3]. In these three decisions, the TCA had imposed total fines amounting to TRY…

Collusion, Türkiye

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Introduction In April 2019, the Turkish Competition Authority (“TCA”) released its reasoned decision,[1] as a result of its full-fledged investigation concerning the practices of the companies that operate in the “meal card services” sector.[2] The TCA found, contrary to its findings in its annulled decision (dated 01.07.2010 and numbered 10-47/862-299), that Sodexo Avantaj ve Ödüllendirme…

Pharmaceuticals, Türkiye

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Introduction On 27 September 2018, Turkish Competition Authority (“TCA”) published its decision[1] concerning the allegations that Roche Müstahzarları A.Ş.  (“Roche”) had violated articles 4 and 6 of the Law on the Protection of Competition (“Competition Act”). Within this scope, the TCA re-evaluated whether (i) Roche’s agreement with a pharmaceutical wholesaler, Co-Re-Na Ecza Deposu Dış. Tic….

Abuse of dominance, Türkiye

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The tech giant Google[1] has been under the Turkish Competition Authority’s (“TCA”) scrutiny due to its practices in the market for licensable mobile operating systems and under the judicial review since July 2015. In September 2018, the TCA has finally released its short decision and imposed a fine of TRY 93 million (approximately USD 15…

Mergers, Türkiye

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On August 27, 2018, the Turkish Competition Authority (“TCA”) announced that it had unanimously cleared the acquisition of one of the largest retailers of various products such as books, periodicals, music, electronics, accessories, video games and toys (“D&R”) by another retailer & wholesaler of the relevant products (“TveK”).[1] Furthermore, the group of companies to which…