INNOVATIONS INTRODUCED IN THE COMPETITION LAW 25 August 2020
Under the Law Amending the Law on the Protection of Competition published in the Official Gazette dated 24 June 2020 and numbered 31165, a number of structural changes were made in the Law on the Protection of Competition numbered 4054 (“Law”). The main innovations brought within the scope of these changes are briefly as follows:
New Regulation in Mergers and Acquisitions
In article 7 of the Law on the Protection of Competition numbered 4054 before the amendment dated 24.06.2020; It was stated that a merger or acquisition transaction was prohibited to create a dominant position of one or more undertakings or to further strengthen their dominant position.
As can be seen, in the previous version of the Law, the criterion for the restriction of company mergers and acquisitions was to prevent this transaction from creating a new dominant position or strengthening the dominant position. With the change brought on 24.06.2020; It has also been made possible to ban some mergers and acquisitions that do not create a new dominant position or strengthen the dominant position. Accordingly, the new criterion seems to be "preserving effective competition" instead of "dominant position".
In this context, if the Competition Board thinks that mergers and acquisitions carried out by companies are of the nature to significantly reduce or prevent competition, it may restrict these transactions regardless of whether the companies are in a dominant position.
“De Minimis” Rule:
According to the new regulation added to the Article 41 of the Law, it is aimed to intensify the work on violations that cause more damage to the competition, and according to the limitations to be made in the elements such as market share, turnover to be determined by the Competition Board, it can be decided to not to conduct an investigation of actions below these limits.
A regulation called the “De Minimis” rule similar to the provision that was added to our legislation has already been included in the legislation of the European Union.
Concept of Settlement:
Under the amendment made in Article 43 of the Law, it is possible for undertakings that violate the competition to settle with the Board. In this context, it can be decided not to open an investigation or to terminate the investigation opened by the Board, except for the obvious and severe violations, commitments submitted by the relevant undertakings concerned to eliminate the competition problems.
Accordingly, taking into consideration of the benefits it may create in terms of an undertaking initiated by an investigation, a reduction in administrative fines may arise if a settlement is reached with the Board.
