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.

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 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.

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.

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.

The UK's Competition and Markets Authority ("CMA") is considering accepting the commitments provided by Amazon to allay concerns regarding its treatment of third parties on its Amazon Marketplace platform, which enables third-party sellers to sell their products alongside Amazon’s products. The CMA launched an investigation into Amazon's potential abuse of its dominant position in the online retail market in July 2022. The investigation is focused on allegations that Amazon gives preferential treatment to its own retail business over third-party sellers on its platform and those who use its delivery services instead of rival logistics companies. Amazon has offered several commitments to address concerns that this behaviour gives it an unfair advantage in the market. Accordingly, Amazon (i) will not use rival sellers’ data in Amazon Marketplace, which would confer it an unfair advantage over other sellers; (ii) ensure that Amazon treats all product offers equally when determining which offers will be featured in the “Buy Box”1 ; and (iii) enable thirdparty companies that use the Amazon Marketplace to negotiate their rates directly with independent providers of Prime delivery services.

In July 2023, the Turkish Competition Board approved Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard and concluded investigations. No-poaching agreements resulted in fines for 16 companies totaling EUR 14.5 million. E-commerce platform Trendyol faced a EUR 5.9 million fine for self-preferencing and implementing measures for fair competition. The Board clarified proof standards in a RPM case, finding no ground for penalties. An individual exemption was granted for QNB Finansbank's customer-restricted POS services due to addressing dissatisfaction and risks.

European Court of Justice rules that Super Bock's attempt to fix minimum resale prices does not automatically constitute a competition restriction. Google faces accusations from the European Commission of distorting the adtech industry and might be required to divest some services. Germany's Bundeskartellamt orders Deutsche Bahn to grant access to its traffic data. India's Supreme Court confirms that state-owned enterprises are not exempt from antitrust laws. Meta allows users to choose whether to combine their data after concerns about potential abuse of dominant position. China's antitrust regulator fines pharmaceutical companies for price-fixing. Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard faces a restraining order in the largest gaming merger. The European Commission introduces new rules exempting sustainability agreements from antitrust rules.

In June 2023, the Turkish Competition Board approved several merger and acquisition transactions. The Constitutional Court ruled that the Board's onsite inspection authority without a judicial decision is unconstitutional, except in non-delayable cases. The Board initiated a full-fledged investigation against Google for tying and self-preferencing practices. The oral defence stage for the wide-reaching no-poaching investigation will be held in July. The Authority announced the oral defence dates for investigations involving various undertakings, including well-known companies. These developments have significant implications for Turkish competition law.

In May 2023, the Turkish Competition Board approved 19 merger and acquisition transactions and settled an investigation into the household appliances industry. Korkmaz, Gençler, and Punto faced fines for maintaining resale prices and customer restrictions. Arçelik, a multinational household appliances manufacturer, offered commitments to address allegations of online sales restrictions and resale price maintenance. The Board accepted Arçelik's commitments, which focus on enhancing consumer experience, data sharing, and quality of the distribution system. The Board fined the Chamber of Electrical Engineers for hindering on-site inspections and clarified its status as an undertaking.

Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard has been approved by the European Commission, while the UK's Competition and Markets Authority blocked the deal. The European Commission found that Microsoft's commitments addressed concerns and granted free licenses for consumers and service providers in the EEA to stream Activision Blizzard games. In Germany, the Bundeskartellamt discussed remedies for Google's online advertising business, including divesting its Chrome search engine and giving third parties access to datasets. Peru's consumer protection authority fined construction companies for a no-poach agreement, and the European Commission cleared MOL's acquisition of OMV's Slovenian subsidiary with divestments. The EU Court ordered Meta to comply with the Commission's information requests, and Sony is under investigation in Romania for alleged exclusivity practices in the PlayStation Store.

Teşebbüsler arasındaki bilgi değişimi, rekabet hukukunda önemli bir konudur. Bilgi paylaşımı, rekabeti bozabileceği gibi bazı durumlarda rekabeti artırıcı etkilere de sahip olabilir. Rekabet Kurulu, bilgi değişiminin rekabet kurallarından muaf tutulduğu pek çok karara sahiptir. Son dönemde Kurul, sektörel dernekler tarafından yapılan bazı muafiyet başvurularını reddetmiştir. Kurul, pazar araştırmaları ve bilgi değişimine daha katı bir tutum sergilemektedir. Kurul, teşebbüs birliklerinin pazar araştırmalarına yönelik uygulamalarını incelemektedir. Kurul, bazı başvuruları reddederken, bazı başvurulara da bireysel muafiyet tanımaktadır. Kararlarda verilerin toplulaştırılması ve eskitilmesi önemli bir rol oynamaktadır. Bu kararlar, Kurul'un bilgi değişimi konusundaki hassasiyetini ortaya koymaktadır.

In April 2023, the Turkish Competition Board made several decisions related to competition law, particularly in digital industries. The Board published two analyses related to online advertising and digitalization and launched a sector inquiry into mobile ecosystems. The Authority's preliminary sector enquiry report noted concerns about data privacy and the impact of practices involving self-preferencing and data aggregation on the online advertising industry's competitiveness. The Board analyzed the online sales restrictions for the household appliances distributor BSH and approved criteria for resellers, such as offering the same delivery types and protecting the brand image, while also allowing resellers to operate brick-and-mortar stores.

Microsoft's $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard has been blocked by the UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) due to concerns over market power. Microsoft already owns Xbox, Windows, Azure, and Xbox Cloud Gaming, which account for an estimated 60%–70% of global cloud gaming services. The CMA found Microsoft's proposed remedies inadequate, stating that "there are significant risks of disagreement and conflict between Microsoft and cloud gaming service providers." Lukoil has been fined again by Bulgaria's Commission for the Protection of Competition for abusing its dominant position, while the CMA in the UK is investigating sports broadcasters for allegedly fixing the pay for freelance workers.

On 12 April 2023, the Turkish Competition Authority announced that it initiated a sector inquiry into mobile ecosystems.

On 7 April 2023, the Turkish Competition Authority published its Preliminary Report prepared within the scope of the “Online Advertising Sector Inquiry” that it initiated on 21 January 2021.

In March 2023, the Turkish Competition Board published no reasoned decisions and approved twelve merger and acquisition transactions. The highlight of Turkish competition law in March was that the Board initiated a new sector inquiry regarding the possible competition effects on cities affected by the devastating earthquake that occurred in February.

In July 2021, the Paris Court of Appeal asked the ECJ for clarification on whether national competition authorities are only entitled to review transactions under EU and national merger control rules, or if they can also apply an abuse of dominance assessment and block transactions retrospectively.