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News & Articles
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Competition Law | Articles
The TCA Publishes Pioneer Decisions on the Simultaneous Implementation of the Leniency and Settlement Procedures
Following the introduction of the settlement procedure, the number of undertakings applying for settlement has been increasing consistently. In this respect, the Turkish Competition Authority’s (“TCA”) evaluations regarding the implementation of the settlement procedure have become an object of curiosity as the investigations that ended with settlement decisions continue to be announced on the official website of the TCA. Two reasoned decisions published on 17 January 2023, were indeed significant in this context as the administrative fines were reduced to a record-breaking extent (a total of 60% for Kınık Maden Suları A.Ş. (“Kınık”) and %55 for Beypazarı İçecek Pazarlama Ambalaj Turizm Petrol İnşaat Sanayi ve Ticaret A.Ş. (“Beypazarı”)) within the simultaneous implementation of the settlement and leniency procedures. On 24 February 2021, the TCA initiated a fully-fledged investigation against Kınık and Beypazarı (two competing manufacturers of natural mineral water and flavored mineral water) upon the claims that the investigated parties fixed prices through exchanging sensitive price information, price change dates, and increased prices. The investigation was concluded upon the settlement and leniency applications by both companies, with the finding that Kınık and Beypazarı had violated Article 4 of the Law on the Protection of Competition (“Competition Law”) by fixing prices through exchanging current and future price information, price change dates and jointly increasing prices. The TCA imposed fines on both undertakings and also applied significant reductions as a result of settlement and leniency applications.
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Competition Law | Articles
The Turkish Competition Authority Takes a Wide Interpretation of the “Technology Undertaking” Exception Applicable to the Turkey’s Merger Control Thresholds
The interpretation of the exemption brought for “technology undertakings” took a sudden turn with the Turkish Competition Authority’s (“TCA”) recent Berkshire Hathaway Decision (15.09.2022, 22-42/625-261) which resolved that the exception brought to the merger control thresholds by the recent amendment for the technology undertakings shall be considered applicable, even if the activities of the target undertaking that can be classified to fall under the definition of technology undertaking, are carried out in other geographical markets than Turkey. For background information, as per the renewed Communiqué No. 2010/4 on the Mergers and Acquisitions Calling for the Authorisation of the Competition Board (“Communiqué No. 2010/4”), “the TRY 250 million thresholds that are mentioned under (a) and (b) in the first paragraph, are not applicable in the acquisitions of technology undertakings that (i) are active or (ii) have R&D activities, in the Turkish geographic market or (iii) that provide services to customers in Turkey.” The TCA defines technology undertakings as undertakings active in areas of digital platforms, software and gaming software, financial technologies, biotechnology, pharmacology, agrochemicals and health technologies, or assets related to these undertakings. The lack of geographical dimension in this latter definition is at the roots of this recent disarray.
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Competition Law | News
ACTECON contributed to Focus On feature of The Legal 500
ACTECON contributed to the Focus On feature of The Legal 500 with an emphasis on the Draft Amendment to the Law No. 4054 on the Protection of Competition.
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Competition Law | Articles
Badmouthing—Abuse under Turkish Competition Law?
In recent years, competition authorities around the world have been scrutinising new types of behaviour that might be deemed abusive within the context of antitrust laws. Although those relating to digital markets receive the most attention, not a day passes by without a surprising decision announced by the authorities or competent courts. The decision of the Ankara 7th Administrative Court of First Instance (“CFI” or the “Court”) requiring the Turkish Competition Authority (“TCA”) to investigate allegations of denigration and deceptive practices can be considered one of them. In this blog post, we examine the TCA’s case law to illustrate its general approach towards such allegations in previous decisions. Before delving into the details of the mentioned case, it must be stressed that in line with the approaches adopted by several competition authorities in the EU, the TCA highlights in its decisions that denigration and deceptive practices by dominant companies actually can be a concern of competition law.
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Data Protection | Articles
Where to Draw the Line of the Scope of Right to Access to Personal Data? The Constitutional Court Ruled on One’s Right to Access Their Own Personal Data
On 20.12.2022, The Turkish Constitutional Court’s (“Constitutional Court”) decision concerning the right to an effective remedy in connection to the right to request protection of the data subject’s personal data within the scope of the right to respect for private life was published in the Official Gazette . In its decision, the Constitutional Court established that the failure to examine the merits of an applicant’s lawsuit renders a theoretically available remedy ineffective. In other words, it was determined that a remedy which can be considered effective at the theoretical level loses its capacity to offer a chance of success due to the interpretation of the courts.
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Competition Law | Articles
Trendyol Avoids a Full-Fledged Investigation by the Turkish Competition Authority and Gets Block Exemption
On 17 January 2023, the Turkish Competition Authority (“TCA”) announced its reasoned decision rendered as a result of the preliminary investigation that was conducted against DSM Grup Danışmanlık İletişim ve Satış Ticaret AŞ (“Trendyol”). The preliminary investigation was initiated pursuant to a confidential complaint which alleged that Trendyol violated Articles 4 and 6 of Law No. 4054 on Protection of Competition (“Competition Law”) in the market for online food and supermarket order. This piece briefly explains the (i) dominance and abuse of dominance, (ii) block exemption and (iii) full-fledged investigation related assessments of the TCA in its reasoned decision.
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