Leniency Mechanism in Turkish Competition Law

Leniency applications are regulated by the secondary legislation under Turkish competition law. These are the Regulation on Active Cooperation for Detecting Cartels (Regulation) and Guidelines on Active Cooperation for Detecting Cartels, which derive from Article 16(6) of Law No. 4054 on the Protection of Competition (Law No. 4054). Leniency applications are specific to cartel cases, whether the violation is classified as a cartel or information exchange, and do not extend to other types of violations under Law No. 4054, pursuant to Article 1 of the Regulation. The Regulation defines cartels as agreements restricting competition and/or concerted practices between competitors for fixing prices; allocation of customers, suppliers, territories or trade channels; restricting the amount of supply or imposing quotas and bid rigging. The leniency procedure grants immunity or a reduction in administrative fines for those undertakings as well as managers and employees who are willing to actively cooperate with the Authority.

Leniency applications can be made by undertakings but also by executives and employees. The application must be made independently from other undertakings allegedly part of the cartel and their managers and employees. The applicant may ask the Authority for leniency if there is no ongoing preliminary investigation or fully-fledged investigation. The applicant may also submit a leniency request once the preliminary or the fully-fledged investigation is launched, but the application should be submitted to the Authority before the service of the Investigation Report. Applications can be made in writing either by the concerned undertaking/person or by their representative. However, information and evidence in respect of the alleged cartel, including the products affected, the duration of the cartel, the names of the undertakings party to the cartel, specific dates, locations and participants of cartel meetings, may be submitted orally. Moreover, in order to benefit from a full immunity from or reduction on fines, the information and documents submitted within the scope of the leniency application should represent an added value. Leniency applicants can request anonymity until the investigation report is officially served.

Article 6 and Article 9 of the Regulation set forth a number of rules the applicants should abide by during the leniency period. Accordingly, the leniency applicant (i) should end its involvement in the alleged cartel, except when the Authority request otherwise on the basis that it would make it more difficult to detect the cartel; (ii) should not conceal or destroy any information or evidence related to the alleged cartel; (iii) keep the application confidential until the investigation report is served, unless the Authority requests otherwise; and (iv) maintain active cooperation with the Authority until the Turkish Competition Board adopts its final decision.

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