Joint Purchasing Agreements in Turkish Competition Law

Joint purchasing agreements fall within the scope of Article 4 of Law No. 4054 on the Protection of Competition (Law No. 4054), which prohibits and illegalise the agreements and concerted practices, Joint purchasing can be carried out through a company jointly controlled by multiple undertakings, a company where several undertakings hold non-controlling stakes, a contractual arrangement, or looser forms of cooperation.

Joint purchasing arrangements aim to create buying power, typically resulting in lower prices or higher-quality products and services for consumers. However, under certain circumstances, this buying power may also raise competition concerns. In this context, the Guidelines on Horizontal Cooperation Agreements (Guidelines) set out the principles for evaluating joint purchasing agreements. According to the Guidelines, if the combined market share of the parties does not exceed 15% in both the purchasing and selling markets, it is likely that the conditions of Article 5 of Law No. 4054 will be met, and the joint purchasing agreement may be exempted under Article 5 of Law No. 4054.

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