Two main subjects have been in the Turkish Competition Authority (the Authority)’s spotlight in recent years. These two subjects are namely information exchange between competitors and fines for obstruction of on-site inspections.
Information exchange naturally has always been a matter of discussion in many Turkish Competition Board (the Board) decisions. What has changed over the years is the approach of the Board which has become gradually stricter and has reached a point of very little tolerance. The milestone decision regarding competitively sensitive information exchange is the Automotive1 decision in 2011 as it marks the first fine that was given mainly for information exchange. Following this, we have seen the Board imposing fines with a single document exchange containing information about future interest rates of competitors in the Banking2 decision in 2013. This change of approach has become more apparent in the Poultry II3 decision rendered in 2019, as the Board has stated that obtaining information regarding prices from third-party dealers was a breach of competition rules, if it has become a way of business and does not occur within the natural flow of commercial life such as dealers sharing the prices of competing suppliers as a means of price bargaining. This was contradictive of the Board’s Poultry I4 decision rendered in 2009 regarding the same market, as in that decision it was stated that obtaining competitively sensitive information from third parties was deemed acceptable in scope of competition rules. As a result of this shift of approach, doubts and uncertainties regarding obtaining information from third parties have arisen with this decision.
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