Boycotts in Turkish Competition Law

Article 4 of Law No. 4054 on the Protection of Competition (Law No. 4054) contains a non-exhaustive list of restrictive agreements that is, to a large extent, identical to Article 10(1) of TFEU. This list defines the exclusion of undertakings operating in the market through boycotts or other conduct as agreements restricting competition. A number of the restrictive horizontal agreement types listed, including collective refusals to deal (i.e., group boycotts or collective boycotts) among others, constitute cartel activities and have consistently been deemed restrictions by object.

The Turkish Competition Board (Board) has defined “collective boycotts” as the act of refusal to contract with one or more customers, suppliers or competitors by two or more undertakings acting together. The purpose of the boycott may be to punish a customer, supplier or competitor who has been creating problems, or to force them to act in a certain way. A collective boycott may constitute a violation on its own, or it may serve as a gateway for another violation (see TEB (08.07.2010; 10-49/912-321)), clearly pointing out that collective boycotting is a form of restriction of competition.

In Tera (01.09.2015; 15-34/514-162), the Board launched an investigation against Tera Medikal Sistemler ve Elektronik San. ve Tic. Ltd. Şti. (Tera) and other undertakings operating in the medical consumables market, upon allegations pertaining to cartel agreements regarding output restrictions and other violations of Article 4 of Law No. 4054. The allegations pertaining to restriction of production consisted of supply boycotts, withdrawal of consignments from hospitals and refusing to participate in tenders acts by the accused undertakings operating in the medical consumables market. Upon evaluating the evidence, the Board ultimately concluded that Tera had engaged in supply boycotts, withdrawal of consignments from hospitals and refusing to participate in tenders and thus Tera had determined the amount of supply or demand for goods or services outside the market.

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