Price fixing is an agreement between participants that operate on the same level of a supply chain (i) to buy or sell a product, service, or commodity at fixed prices, or (ii) to maintain the market conditions such that the price is maintained at a given level by controlling supply and demand. Article 4 of Law No. 4054 on the Protection of Competition (the "Competition Law") brings a non-exhaustive list of prohibited restrictive agreements. Price fixing is at the top of the list. Consequently, direct or indirect agreements that have as their purpose or effect the fixing of (i) the purchase or sale price of goods or services, (ii) elements such as cost and profit which form the price, and (iii) any terms of purchase or sale, are considered per se illegal.
Price fixing is one of the most common forms of cartel agreements. Prices may be fixed through determining maximum or minimum prices as well as through standardization of various rebate systems. Therefore, it is not only direct agreements which result in price control that constitute competition law violation; practices that induce price control mechanisms in an indirect manner may also fall under the scope of the price fixing prohibition.
In addition to agreements concluded between competitors, price fixing may occur by decisions of trade associations. A decision by a trade association may become subject to sanctions for any of the prohibited activities indicated in Article 4 in the same manner as other anti-competitive agreements.
The Turkish Competition Board (the "Board") has a prudent approach to price fixing conduct. In many cases, the Board has imposed serious administrative monetary fines against companies for price fixing. For example, the Board fined fourteen autogas dealers located in Adýyaman province for engaging in concerted determination of prices (18-09/180-85; 29.03.2018).
We operate a free-to-view policy, asking only that you register in order to read all of our content. Please login or register to view the rest of this article.