Private Enforcement (Damage Claims) Regarding Competition Infringements in Turkey

While breaches of Articles 4, 6 and 7 of Law No. 4054 on the Protection of Competition (Law No. 4054) would result in administrative monetary fines, they could also result in possible compensation claims in the scope of private enforcement in the Turkish law regime. Similar to the legal systems in Europe, any person or undertaking that seeks compensation for the losses it has incurred due to an infringement of competition law should prove all of the following four elements:

• Existence of an unlawful act: in antitrust cases, the unlawful act is a breach of competition law in accordance with Article 57, i.e., an action, decision or agreement which is contrary to Law No. 4054;
• Occurrence of a loss caused by a breach of competition law;
• Appropriate causal link between the breach of competition law and the loss suffered as a result of that breach; and
• Fault (intention or negligence) of the infringers in committing the unlawful act.

Under the general provision of the Turkish Code of Obligations, the award of damages aims to compensate for the losses of a party, and thus, compensation cannot exceed the amount of loss; however, it is possible for the compensation to be lower than the actual loss. On the other hand, the compensation stipulated under Law No. 4054 also aims to deter undertakings from any competition law breach, in addition to compensating the damages of a party. Thus, the judge may also rule for treble damages, in which case the “injured parties” that are entitled to bring claims under Article 57 of Law No. 4054 are also eligible to claim damages of up to threefold of their losses.

For more information on private enforcement (damage claims) regarding antitrust violations in Turkey, please feel free to reach out to ELIG Gurkaynak at +90 212 327 1724 or through gonenc.gurkaynak@elig.com.