Mitigating Factors for Sanctions in Turkish Competition Law

Article 7 of the Regulation on Fines to Apply in Cases of Agreements, Concerted Practices and Decisions Limiting Competition, and Abuse of Dominant Position (Regulation on Fines) provides the mitigating factors that may be taken into account by the Turkish Competition Board (Board) in determining monetary fines. The relevant article provides that the base fine may be reduced at a rate of one fourth to three fifths in case the undertakings or association of undertakings concerned prove certain facts such as provision of assistance to the examination beyond the fulfilment of legal obligations, existence of encouragement by public authorities or coercion by other undertakings in the violation, voluntary payment of damages to those harmed, termination of other violations, and occupation of a very small share by practices subject to the violation within annual gross revenues.

The most commonly applied mitigating factor in the Board’s decisions is where the investigated conduct only constitutes a small part of the relevant undertaking’s total turnover. In this regard, in several cases, the Board has reduced the monetary fines imposed on the relevant undertakings on the ground that the effect of the infringing conduct has remained limited since the conduct in question constitutes a small share within their total turnover. On the other hand, the Board generally rules out the competition law compliance programmes and similar training programmes adopted by the undertaking in its assessment of mitigating factors and merely appreciates these efforts.

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