Coordinated Effects Assessment in Turkish Merger Control Regime

The Turkish merger control regime relies on the significant impediment of effective competition (SIEC) test to ascertain whether a merger may be cleared. As outlined in the Guidelines on the Assessment of Horizontal Mergers and Acquisitions, the substantive assessment in the Turkish merger control regime, similar to that of the European Commission, includes analyses of unilateral effects and coordinated effects under the SIEC test. Regarding coordinated effects, a merger transaction might cause the current coordination between undertakings in the relevant market to be easier, consistent and effective than the conditions before the merger.

The coordinated effects of concentrations are related to the creation of an environment that facilitates the process of making explicit or confidential non-competitive arrangements between the undertakings in question. Coordination commonly occurs in the markets where it is more possible to reach a common understanding of the terms of coordination. A merging transaction might strengthen the current coordination between the undertakings that already conduct their activities in coordination before the merging transaction or might create an opportunity for the undertakings to coordinate on higher prices.

As per the Guidelines on the Assessment of Horizontal Mergers and Acquisitions, three conditions are required for coordination to be sustainable: (i) the coordinating undertakings should be able to observe sufficiently whether the terms of coordination are being fulfilled; (ii) there should be some sort of credible deterrent mechanism that could be activated if a deviation is detected; and (iii) the reactions of the units outside the coordination, such as current and future competitors as well as customers, should not put the results expected from the coordination at risk. While evaluating the coordinated effects, all kinds of available data should be considered, including the structural characteristics of the relevant market and the past behaviour of the undertakings in question.

For more information on coordinated effects in Turkish merger control regime, please feel free to reach out to ELIG Gurkaynak at +90 212 327 1724 or through gonenc.gurkaynak@elig.com.