Insights Competition

he Competition Board (“Board”) announced on its website that the investigation initiated against Krea İçerik Hizmetleri ve Prodüksiyon AŞ (“Krea”) was concluded with a commitment procedure1. Almost a year ago, the Board had initiated an investigation against Krea, the exclusive holder of the broadcasting rights for Turkish Super League and Turkish First League football matches, abused its dominant position as per Law No. 4054 on the Protection of Competition (“Competition Law”) by discriminatorily o ering sub-broadcasting rights, including “news-related footage” and “full highlights,” to other broadcasting companies under the scope of broadcasting rights.

This competition law newsletter provides information on the latest developments in relation to the Turkish competition market and the implementation of Law No 4054 on the Protection of Competition (the "Law") in light of recent announcements and publications by the Competition Authority (the "Authority") and decisions of the competition board (the "Board") published in October 2023.

On 4 October 2023, the Turkish Competition Authority published its reasoned decision on 15 undertakings active as suppliers/manufacturers in the fast-moving consumer goods sector.[1] The case concerned whether these retailers were engaged in resale price maintenance and/or acted as a “hub” for retailers to communicate future prices.

The Federal Cartel Office of Germany has secured data commitments from Alphabet, Google's parent company, allowing users of services with over one million monthly users, such as Gmail and Google News, to control how their data is utilised.

Rekabet Kurumu, şirketlerin birbirlerinden çalışan almamaya yönelik anlaşmalar yaptıkları ve ücret & yan fayda konularında bilgi değiştirdikleri iddialarına yönelik olarak son yıllarda pek çok şirket aleyhinde soruşturma açmıştır. İnsan Kaynakları (“İK”) alanındaki bu soruşturmalardan Nisan 2021’de başlatılana ilişkin karar 26.07.2023’te verilmiş ve 4054 sayılı Rekabetin Korunması Hakkında Kanun (“Rekabet Kanunu”)’un 4. maddesini ihlal ettikleri gerekçesiyle 16 şirkete 151 milyon TL idari para cezası uygulanmıştır[1]. İK-I şeklinde adlandırılabilecek bu kararla işgücü piyasasına yönelik rekabet ihlalleri iddiasıyla yürütülen incelemelerde şu ana kadar uygulanan para cezası miktarı 300 milyon TL’yi aşmıştır. Halihazırda yürümekte olan diğer dosyaların da neticelenmesi ile birlikte bu ceza miktarının daha da artması beklenmektedir. Buna karşılık, aşağıda ayrıntılarına yer verileceği üzere, üç ayrı dosya kapsamında yerinde inceleme yapılan ve/veya soruşturma açılan 50’nin üzerinde şirkete, herhangi bir ihlal tespiti yapılmadığı için ceza uygulanmamıştır.

The commitment procedure is an increasingly popular tool used in competition law that serves procedural economy by bringing closure to preliminary inquiries and investigation proceedings (“assessment proceedings”) while diminishing competition issues before they become competition infringements. The use of the term “competition issues” rather than “competition infringements” is significant for the commitment procedure as it allows undertakings to make amendments for potential anti-competitive behavior that does not constitute a hard-core infringement of competition.

Rekabet Kurulu (“Kurul”), 26.10.2022 tarihinde yayımladıgı karar ile Meta Platforms, Inc., Meta Ireland Limited, WhatsApp LLC (birlikte “Meta” olarak anılacaktır) ile Madoka Turkey Bilişim Hizmetleri Ltd. Şti. (“Madoka”) hakkında 4054 sayılı Rekabetin Korunması Hakkında Kanun’un (“RKHK”) 6. maddesini ihlal ettikleri gerekçesiyle idari para cezası verildigini duyurmuştu. Kasım ayı bültenimizde yer verdigimiz üzere beklenen gerekçeli karar1 11.09.2023 tarihinde yayımlandı.

Acquisitions involving technology undertakings have been on the radar of the Turkish Competition Authority following changes in 2022 to merger control rules in Turkey. Indeed, with the change in the legislation, the acquisition of technology undertakings is subject to a simplified turnover threshold.

The Turkish Competition Board (“Board”) announced that Meta Platforms, Inc., Meta Ireland Limited, WhatsApp LLC (all referred to as “Meta”), and Madoka Turkey Bilişim Hizmetleri Ltd. Şti. (“Madoka”) must pay administrative fines for violating Article 6 of Law No. 4054 on the Protection of Competition (“Competition Law”) with the decision published on 26.10.2022. As discussed in our November bulletin, the expected reasoned decision was published on 11.09.2023.

The European Commission (“Commission”) has designated Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, ByteDance, Meta and Microsoft as gatekeepers for the first time under the Digital Markets Act (“DMA”). As such, they must ensure full compliance with the DMA within the next six months.

Rekabet Kurulu (“Kurul”), 2021 yılında farklı sektörlerden önde gelen birtakım teşebbüsler hakkında işgücü piyasasında rekabeti olumsuz etkileyecek şekilde centilmenlik anlaşmaları yaptıkları gerekçesiyle soruşturma başlatmıştı. Rekabet Kurumu’nun sitesinde 02.08.2023 tarihinde yayımlanan nihai kararla[1] ise bu soruşturma sonuçlandırılmış ve hakkında soruşturma yürütülen 48 teşebbüsten 16’sı hakkında toplamda yaklaşık 151 milyon TL idari para cezası verilmesine karar verilmiştir.

In 2021, the Turkish Competition Board (“Board”) initiated an investigation of certain leading undertakings, varying across different sectors, for entering into gentleman’s agreements in the labor market in a way that adversely affects competition in the relevant market. The investigation was concluded with the final decision  published on the Turkish Competition Authority (“TCA”)’s website on 02.08.2023, and a total administrative fine of approximately TRY 151 million was imposed on 16 of the 48 undertakings party to the investigation.

In August 2023, the Turkish Competition Board (“Board”) approved 19 merger and acquisition transactions. During August the Board initiated 14 new, full-fledged investigations, concluded eight on-going investigations, and held oral defences for six investigations. Also in August, the Turkish Competition Authority (“Authority”) published its 24th annual report regarding its activities in 2022.

The European Commission has initiated investigations into two proposed acquisitions under Article 22 of the EC Merger Regulation. Microsoft has also agreed to unbundle its Teams product from Office 365 in the EEA and Switzerland. The UK's competition watchdog, the CMA, has published its final guidelines on horizontal agreements. Ukraine has adopted comprehensive competition law revision for post-war era.

Turkey’s Competition Board (the "Board") rendered two significant decisions1 last year concerning online sales restrictions that provide a view forward for many undertakings. In its decisions, the Board scrutinised the commitment packages offered by BSH and Arçelik, two of the major small and large household appliances manufacturers in Turkey. The investigations against the companies (the “Investigations”) concerned whether Arçelik and/or BSH violated Article 4 of Law No. 4054 on the Protection of Competition (“Law No. 4054”) by preventing their authorised resellers from selling online and/or interfering with resellers’ resale prices. The Board accepted the commitment packages, which Arçelik and BSH revised after an initial review of the Board, and thus closed the Investigations with respect to the online sales restrictions contemplated by Arçelik and/or BSH.

The Turkish Competition Board has fined EssiLux EUR 16.9 million for violating the commitments it made as part of its 2018 merger with Luxottica. The Board found that EssiLux had engaged in tying and exclusivity practices, which could have significantly lessened effective competition in the market. The Board's decision is a major setback for EssiLux, and it raises questions about the efficacy of commitments made as part of merger control approvals.

We are pleased to release Moroğlu Arseven’s 5 Years of best practice in competition law. This publication aims to offer a comprehensive overview on competition law trends of Türkiye and landmark decisions as there were important developments between the years 2018-2022.Topics covered include: (i) information on the Turkish Competition Authority’s increased information gathering powers and jurisdiction in light of its recent decisional practice, (ii) developments regarding recently introduced commitment and settlement procedures, (iii) the headline figures from 2018-2022, (iv) significant decisions of the Competition Board, and (v) information on current as well as upcoming legislative developments.

Rekabet Kurulu, Nadirkitap'ı ikinci el kitap pazarındaki hakim durumu ve veri taşınabilirliği engeli nedeniyle inceledi. Hâkim durumu tespit eden Kurul, veri taşınabilirliği engeli sebebiyle rekabetin önünde engel oluşturduğunu belirledi. Kurul, Nadirkitap'a idari para cezası verdi ve veri taşınabilirliğini sağlama zorunluluğu getirdi. Diğer incelemelerde, BSH ihlal iddiaları yetersiz bulundu, yem sektöründe 4 teşebbüse ihlal cezası verildi. Kurul, Philips-Maçkolik anlaşmasını inceledi ve münhasırlık hükmünü geçici olarak kaldırdı. Storytel davasında avukat-müvekkil gizliliği talebi reddedildi.

The Turkish Competition Board monitored fulfillment of obligations by Nadirkitap Bilişim ve Reklamcılık AŞ after investigating its competition law violation. Nadirkitap, a dominant player in second-hand book sales, was fined for preventing data portability. In 2023, the Board examined the fulfillment of obligations. The Board closely evaluated the provided inventory data’s accuracy, format, and scope, including category, author, price, and more. Certain obligations were met, while additional requirements were set for data presentation. Nadirkitap was given 15 days to fulfill the remaining obligation.

The Settlement Procedure, which was explicitly acted in Law No. 4054 on the Protection of Competition in 2020 and first introduced in the Philips[1] case in August 2021, has been used in several cases since then. Gökşin Kekevi, Tuğba Begüm Terzi, Beste Güneş Tımaç, Ezgi Kaplan, Gökçe Karakaya, and Sevcan Yüksel from the Competition Law Department of Özay Law Firm answered frequently asked questions on this matter. We wish it will be beneficial for our readers.