Turkish competition laws do not recognise any industry-specific violations. All undertakings, including state-owned companies, fall within the Turkish Competition Authority’s jurisdiction, to the extent they carry out an economic activity in a product/service market. That said, there are certain sector-specific regulations that apply to conduct that occur only in some sectors. In this line of reasoning, the Turkish Competition Authority has put in place certain sector-specific communiqués, which exempt some agreements and concerted practices in certain sectors from the application of Article 4 of Law No. 4054 on the Protection of Competition (the “Competition Law”). Those agreements, concerted practices and decisions that fall under the scope of these regulations automatically benefit from the exemption and do not require a separate notification for individual exemption. Sector-specific exemption communiqués currently in effect are listed below:
- the Block Exemption Communiqué No. 2017/3 on Vertical Agreements in the Motor Vehicle Sector: It establishes the conditions for granting block exemption to vertical agreements in the motor vehicle sector from the application of the Article 4 prohibition.
- the Block Exemption Communiqué No. 2016/5 on R&D Agreements: It establishes conditions for the R&D agreements to benefit from block exemption regime.
- the Block Exemption Communiqué No. 2008/3 for the Insurance Sector: It establishes the conditions for certain agreement categories within insurance sector to benefit from block exemption regime.
- the Block Exemption Communiqué No. 2008/2 on Technology Transfer Agreements: It establishes conditions for technology transfer agreements to benefit from block exemption regime.
- the Block Exemption Communiqué No. 2013/3 on Specialization Agreements: It establishes the conditions for granting block exemption to specialization agreements between undertakings from the application of the provisions of Article 4 of the Competition Law.
Furthermore, there are also guidelines which are prepared in order to provide certainty in interpretations, to reduce uncertainty in practice and to provide guidance for the companies in order for them to benefit from the exemption regime. These Guidelines are listed below:
- Guidelines on the Explanation of the Block Exemption Communiqué concerning the Motor Vehicles Sector
- Guidelines on the Application of Articles 4 and 5 of the Act no 4054 on the Protection of Competition to technology Transfer Agreements
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