Turkish Competition Authority Publishes Annual Report for 2020

New Development

The Turkish Competition Authority (“ Authority “) published its 2020 Annual Report (“ Report “) on its official website on March 26, 2021. The Report provides an overview of the Authority’s activities in 2020. The Report’s foreword states that due to the uncertainties and economic slowdowns caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, the Authority increased its efforts to maintain confidence in the markets and the competition-dynamism-welfare. As a result, the Authority preliminarily focused on markets such as organized retail, e-commerce, food, house cleaning products, medical and protective masks and hand sanitizers. In any event, the Authority reported that despite the pandemic’s negative effects, it nonetheless met all of its performance goals stipulated in the 2019-2023 Strategic Plan.

Amendments, Legislative Changes and Future Plans

2020 was the year of change, and its effects can still be observed in the third month of 2021. As the Report points out, in terms of the implementation of effective competition policy in 2020, the Law No. 7246 Amending the Law No. 4054 on the Protection of Competition (“ Amendment “) entered into force on June 24, 2020 in an effort to adopt Turkish competition law to economic and technologic developments and to harmonize it with the European Union enforcements. The Amendment mainly introduced the Significant Impediment to Effective Competition (SIEC) Test for mergers and acquisitions (“ M&A “); de minimis exception for conducts that do not considerably restrict competition; and commitment and settlement mechanisms. The Authority also published the “Guidelines on Digital Data Review during Dawn Raids” and launched sector inquiries on online marketplaces, fast moving consumer goods retails, fresh fruits and vegetables, fuel oil, and financial technologies, all of which are targeted to be completed by the end of 2021. Finally, as digitalization was one of the most important topics for the Authority, the Report states that the Authority will continue its related studies and inquiries to develop a more efficient and adaptive competition law policy and continue closely monitoring these markets.

Letting the Numbers Talk

Compared to 2019, there is a minimal (2%) increase in the number of Competition Board (“ Board “) decisions. The Board issued decisions for 312 cases in 2019 and 319 cases in 2020. Approximately 69% of these cases in 2020 were related to M&A, 20% concerned competition law violations, and the remaining 11% were about individual exemptions and negative clearances.

Administrative Monetary Fines

The Report provides a full comparative yearly summary of the administrative monetary fines imposed on the undertakings.

Conclusion

The Report listed the Authority’s priorities for the upcoming period as (i) developing the secondary legislations in line with the amendments to the Law No. 4054 on Protection of Competition; (ii) improvement of evidence-gathering mechanisms; (iii) close surveillance of digital markets; (iv) increasing the competition awareness and culture; (v) development of international relations in terms of competition policy; and (vi) increasing corporate capacity and performance. The Authority’s communiqués on de minimis and commitment mechanisms already entered into force on March 16, 2021 and the draft regulation on settlement was published on March 18, 2021, evidencing the Authority’s realization of its first goal. If 2020 was the year of change, it appears 2021 will be the year of observation and experience.