Bid Rigging in Turkish Competition Law 

Even though bid rigging is not explicitly included within the non-exhaustive list of prohibited restrictive agreements set forth by Article 4 of the Law No. 4054 on the Protection of Competition (Law No. 4054), Article 3 of the Regulation on Fines to Apply in Cases of Agreements, Concerted Practices and Decisions Limiting Competition, and Abuse of Dominant Position states that cartel activity corresponds to agreements restricting competition and/or concerted practices between competitors for fixing prices; allocation of customers, providers, territories or trade channels; restricting the amount of supply or imposing quotas, and bid rigging. Similarly Article 3 of the Regulation on Active Cooperation for Detecting Cartels also includes the very same explanation and therefore lists bid rigging as a type of cartel. Consequently, bid rigging is considered as a type of cartel and is prohibited by Law No. 4054. Additionally, bid-rigging in public tenders or price manipulation is also criminally prosecutable under Article 235 of the Turkish Criminal Code, with offenders facing imprisonment.

Bid rigging/collusive tendering may emerge in forms of (i) negotiation with competitors pertaining to the tender or the elements of the tender, before or during the tender process; (ii) reaching an agreement with competitors regarding price, quantity, etc. of the product/service subject to the tender; (iii) in the event of multiple tenders, acting in a way that results in sharing tenders with competitors; and (iv) agreeing with competitors so they withdrawing from the tender in favor of one or more competitors. Some examples and types of collusive tendering are bid suppression, complementary bidding (also known as protective bidding and shadow bidding), bid rotation, subcontracting agreements, and market sharing.

For more information on collusive tendering in Turkish competition law, please feel free to reach out to ELIG Gurkaynak at +90 212 327 1724 or through gonenc.gurkaynak@elig.com.