About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

25 Int'l Fin. L. Rev. 61 (2006)
Turkey Follows Europe's Lead on Competition

handle is hein.journals/intfinr25 and id is 349 raw text is: Turkey follows Europe's lead on competition Halil Erc0ment Erdem of Erdem & Erdem Law Office compares the relatively young competition regime in Turkey with that of Brussels ompetition law is an ensemble of rules adopted for foundation and maintenance of free compe- tition in the market. Its context varies from one country to another, depending on particular needs of the country, its regional and international aspirations and obligations. This article seeks to analyze the Turkish Competition Law and its approximation with EU law. Legislation Turkish Competition Law is based on Article 167/I of the Turkish Constitution which regulates the prevention of monop- olization and cartelization. Thereby, the Constitution seeks the construction and prevention of a competitive market. Turkey's Act on Protection of Competition, which was adopted and entered into force on December 13 1994, has been amended several times, most recently on July 2 2005. The Act is deeply influenced by EC Competition Regulations. Also European Court of Justice and European Commissions deci- sions are evaluated as precedents under Turkish Competition Law, since the Act was enacted as a final stage of Turkey's negotiation of customs union agreement with the EU as an effort to harmonize Turkish competition law with EC compe- tition law. The aim of the Act is to prevent agree- ments, decisions and practices that destroy or restrict competition, to prevent the abuse of dominant position, to con- trol concentrations and to preserve competition by preparing secondary legis- lation. The Act covers freedom to trade, entrance into relevant markets and pro- ductivity as well as the effective distribution of the country's resources through privatization. There are now eight communiqu&s in force as secondary legislation, mainly regarding the areas of mergers and acqui- sitions, vertical agreements, research and development, administrative fines and privatization. Competent bodies The Competition Authority (CA) is the competent governmental body in the area and has an autonomous statue. The Authority began operations in 1997. Although, at that time there was not much experience of competition policy and law in Turkey, CA made a good start and continues to make progress by devel- oping a reputation as one of the Turkey's most effective autonomous agencies, win- ning respect and support from the business community and establishing a competition culture through its publica- tions, investigations, decisions and competition advocacy. This has also been noted in the OECD's Country Peer Review regarding Competition Law and Policy in Turkey which was published in August 2005. The Review also said that the CA is playing a critical role in moving the Turkish economy forward to greater reliance on com- petition-based and consumer welfare oriented markets. The Competition Act vests the CA's decision-making competence in the Competition Board (CB) formed of seven members, which is the executive body of the CA. Board members serve for a term of six years. The CB's decisions can be consid- ered as semi-judicial decisions granted by an administrative body. This status is similar to that of the European Commission. Thus, these decisions are subject to the appeal procedure before the State Council which is the supreme administrative court. In practice many CB decisions are appealed before the State Council. Thus, in 2004 a special I chamber was created in the State Council to deal with appeals against CB decisions so as to gain specialist knowledge and to cope with the volume of case. Application Turkish competition law concerns four principal subjects; (i) prohibition of agree- ments, concerted practices and decisions restricting competition (Act article 4) and exemptions (Act article 5), (ii) prohibition of the abuse of a dominant position (Act article 6), (iii) mergers and acquisitions (Act article 7) and (iv) privatization (Communiqu6 no: 1998/4 and 1998/5). Law enforcement procedures can be triggered by a complaint or at the CB's own initiative. The CA has broad inves- tigative powers, including powers to search corporate premises based on a court order. Agreements and concerted Practices The Competition Act prohibits agree- ments between undertakings, decisions by associations of undertakings and concerted practices that have as their object or effect of prevention, restriction or distortion of competition within a market. The CB has the power to investigate such agreements, concerted practices and decisions and either grant negative clear- ance or declare them to be infringements of competition, demand their termina- tion and fine the parties. The CB may individually exempt agreements, prac- tices and decisions from the applica- tion of Article 4, if they have useful effects on the pro- duction and distribution of products and servic- es and contribute to technical and eco- nomical improvement, while not eliminating competition in a relevant market and allowing consumers to bene- fit from such results. The CB has adopted group exemptions for the distribution and servicing of motor vehicles, for vertical agreements, and research and for development agree- ments. Group exemptions can be revoked by the CB according to the conditions prescribed in article 13 of the Act. The Act also empowers the CB to declare www. if I r.co m IFLR/May 2006 61 www.iflr.com IFLR/May 2006 61

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most