New regulation on active cooperation for detecting cartels

A new regulation determining the principles regarding immunity from or reduction for the fines specified in the Law on the Protection of Competition (“Law”) is published. The regulation defines these immunities and discounts to be imposed on enterprises, their managers and employees, who actively cooperate with the Competition Authority for the purpose of detecting cartels which are prohibited.

The conditions that can be benefitted by enterprises and associations of enterprises are as follows:

Immunity from pecuniary fines

The first applicant (and its managers and employees) who submits the information and documents specified in the regulation and fulfills the conditions, independently of other cartel parties and cartel facilitators before the Competition Board (“Board”) decides to conduct a preliminary investigation may benefit from this immunity given that the following conditions are met;

• The products affected by the cartel, the geographical scope of the cartel, the duration of the cartel, the names and/or trade names and addresses of the undertakings that are parties to the cartel and, if any, the cartel facilitators, the dates, places, participants of the cartel-related meetings, the communication tools used and other information and documents related to the cartel are provided to the Board.
• Information and documents related to the cartel are not concealed.
• Involvement to the cartel should be ended.
• Application should be kept confidential.
• Active cooperation should continue until the final decision.
• Written information of employees and managers is sought (if necessary).
• If additional information and documents are obtained by the applicant, this information and documents should be submitted to the Board immediately and in any case, before the end of the second written defense period.
• No previous application should have been made for the immunity of the managers and employees.

Reduction of the pecuniary fine

Applicants who cannot claim immunity and who submit the information and documents specified in the regulation, independently of other cartel parties and cartel facilitators, within three months following the notification of the investigation, during the time period starting from the Board’s decision to conduct a preliminary investigation, and before the notification of the investigation report, may benefit from this immunity given that the following conditions are met.

In addition to the above conditions, the information and documents submitted by the applicant needs to strengthen the power of the Board to prove the cartel, taking into consideration the other evidence held by the Board (added value);

• First applicant: A reduction of between 25 and 50 percent. The managers and employees of the applicant actively cooperating may benefit from a discount of at least 25 percent or they can be deemed immune from the fines.
• Second applicant: A reduction of between 20 and 40 percent. The managers and employees of the applicant actively cooperating may benefit from a discount of at least 20 percent or they can be deemed immune from the fines.
• Other applicants: A reduction of between 15 and 30 percent. The managers and employees of the applicant actively cooperating may benefit from a discount of at least 15 percent or they can be deemed immune from the fines.

In addition to the information above, the regulation also regulates the conditions for immunity for managers and employees and such persons can also apply, independent of the enterprises. Upon inquiry of further details, our legal team will be glad to provide detailed information regarding the differences between the previous and the new regulation as well as the application conditions.