Competition Infringements Investigations in Turkey

Pursuant to Article 40 of Law No. 4054 on the Protection of Competition (Law No. 4054), the Turkish Competition Board (Board) can either directly launch a fully-fledged investigation or launch a preliminary investigation in order to determine whether a fully-fledged investigation will be necessary.  The Board is also entitled to directly initiate a fully-fledged investigation in cases where the Board deems that there is sufficient information at hand. The Board may launch the investigation ex officio or in response to a complaint, denunciation or a leniency application under the same provision of Law No. 4054.

The Board notifies the parties concerned within fifteen days following the decision to initiate an investigation, i.e., the Investigation Notice. The Investigation Notice usually includes the preliminary allegations against the investigated undertakings. The Turkish Competition Authority then issues the Investigation Report, which includes concrete allegations against the investigated parties and evidence collected by the case handlers, within six months following the Board’s investigation decision, which, if necessary, can be extended by an additional six months. Once the Investigation Report is served, the defendants will have thirty calendar days to respond by submitting their written defence, which can be extendable for a further thirty calendar days.

The investigation team will then have fifteen calendar days to prepare their Additional Written Opinion after receipt of the written defence if they change their opinion presented in the Investigation Report. The defending parties will have another thirty-day period, which is not extendable, to reply to the additional opinion in another written defence. This marks the last phase of the written pleas, and the investigation team will not respond to this written defence. Following the written defences, an oral hearing will be held upon request by the parties or at the Board’s initiative, within at least 30 and at most 60 calendar days following the completion of the investigation process.

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