Compliance Quarterly Türkiye

Global

How the EU competition authorities can continue to fight against below-threshold acquisitions

Read the full article, "Post-Illumina: EU competition authorities have three options to still catch below-threshold acquisitions." 

The Court of Justice of the EU confirms public tenders’ restrictions for companies from third countries with no procurement agreement with the EU

Read the full article, "ECJ confirms public tenders’ restrictions for companies from third countries with no procurement agreement with the EU." 

What to expect for a revised procedural antitrust framework under a new European Commission

Read the full article, "Regulation 1/2003 2.0: What to expect for a revised procedural antitrust framework under a new European Commission?." 

Türkiye

Draft Guideline on Competition Violations in Labor Markets is published

On December 3, 2024, the Turkish Competition Authority (Authority) took a significant step by publishing the Guidelines on Competition Infringements in Labor Markets (Guideline) within the scope of the Law No. 4054 on the Protection of Competition (Law No. 4054).

The Guideline aims to address anti-competitive practices that affect wages, employee mobility and working conditions in labor markets. The Guideline regulates minimum wage and non-solicitation agreements between the employers, exchange of information regarding employment conditions of employees between the employers and how Board’s intensified oversights in labor markets will affect M&A transactions that are subject to Board’s approval. 

For further details, please refer to our article: "Intensified Oversight in Labour Markets by the Competition Authority: New Guidelines Published."

Annual Report for 2023 is published

The Annual Report for 2023 detailing the institution’s activities, publications, investigations and their estimated completion dates, imposed fines, and other significant developments in the year 2023 was published by the Turkish Competition Authority (Authority) on August 12, 2024.

Accordingly, in 2023, the Competition Board (Board) concluded 370 cases, of which 145 were related to competition violations, eight to exemption/negative clearance requests, and 217 to mergers/acquisitions/joint ventures/privatization transactions. A total of 145 cases were finalized following preliminary investigations or inquiries related to alleged violations of Articles 4 and/or 6 of the Law No. 4054 on the Protection of Competition (Law No. 4054). The most investigated sectors for competition violations in 2023 were the food industry, machinery industry, and healthcare sector. These three main sectors accounted for approximately 75 percent of the competition violation cases completed by the Board in 2023.

Additionally, administrative fines totaling ₺1,900,675,663 were imposed on undertakings for the determination of competition violations in accordance with Article 16, third paragraph, of the Law No. 4054. The food industry sector received the highest fine, amounting to ₺698.8 million.

Data on the Latest Competition Authority decision statistics is published

According to the latest Competition Board (Board) decision statistics data published by the Turkish Competition Authority (Authority), a total of 82 merger and acquisition decisions, three negative findings and exemption decisions, and four privatization decisions were made between August 1, 2024 and November 15, 2024.

Among the recently published decisions of the Board, a total of 67 competition violation decisions were published between August 8, 2024, and November 27, 2024. Of these decisions, 35 were concluded because of settlements.