In April, the Turkish Competition Board approved 16 merger control filings and published 41 reasoned decisions. Highlights of Turkish competition law in April are the new merger control rules entering into force and the publishing of the E-Marketplace Platforms Sector Inquiry Final Report.
New Merger Control Rules Have Now Entered into Force!
Turkish merger control rules were changed on 4 March 2022 and have now entered into force. The thresholds have been updated as follows:
Threshold 1:
The aggregate Turkish turnover of the transaction parties exceeding TL 750 million (for 2021 approximately EUR 71.9 million or USD 84.8 million) and the Turkish turnover of at least two of the transaction parties each exceeding TL 250 million (for 2021 approximately EUR 23.9 million or USD 28.2 million), OR
Threshold 2:
(i) The Turkish turnover of the transferred assets or businesses in acquisitions exceeding TL 250 million (for 2021 approximately EUR 23.9 million or USD 28.2 million) and the worldwide turnover of at least one of the other parties to the transaction exceeds TL 3 billion (for 2021 approximately EUR 287.8 million or USD 339.6 million),
OR
(ii) the Turkish turnover of any of the parties in mergers exceeding TL 250 million (for 2021 approximately EUR 23.9 million or USD 28.2 million) and the worldwide turnover of at least one of the other parties to the transaction exceeds TL 3 billion (for 2021 approximately EUR 287.8 million or USD 339.6 million).
For the updated turnover thresholds, please see our announcement here.
It should however be noted that the Authority has specifically foreseen that the TL 250 million threshold is not applicable for acquisitions of technology undertakings active in Turkey (including undertakings which have R&D activities in Turkey or which provide services to customers in Turkey). In this context, technology undertakings are defined as undertakings active in areas of digital platforms, software and gaming software, financial technologies, biotechnology, pharmacology, agrochemicals and health technologies.
For more information on technology undertakings, please see the first article of our series here. For more information on Turkey's merger control rules in general, please see the second article of our series here. For details on the changes to the Horizontal Guidelines and Non-Horizontal Guidelines, please see the third article of our series here.
E-Marketplace Platforms Sector Inquiry final report is now published!
Turkey's Competition Authority launched an "E-Marketplace Platforms Sector Inquiry" on 11 June 2020 regarding the e-marketplace platforms that it considers to be the most important players in Turkey's e-commerce market. Within the scope of the sector inquiry surveys addressing both sellers and consumers were conducted in order to evaluate the functioning of e-marketplaces, the level of competition in the market, the relations between vendors and marketplaces, and the effects on consumers from a competitive perspective in order to develop possible solutions. Within this context, information was requested from various public institutions and organisations.
The main development of the final report is stated under section 6: "Conclusion and Policy Recommendations", which explains the developments that took place in the market after the publishing of the preliminary report. These include developments in retail e-commerce, internet penetration, internet usage rate, etc. For example, it is estimated that Turkey will maintain its first-place ranking globally in terms of the growth rate of retail e-commerce.
TCA's 2021 Annual Report is now published!
The Turkish Competition Authority ("TCA") has published its Annual Report for the year 2021, which presents numerical and statistical data regarding the TCA's activity during 2021. Highlights include:
- 19 investigations launched;
- 44 investigations concluded (this is quite a leap considering the numbers were 23, 15, and 26 for the years 2018, 2019, 2020 respectively);
- 405 decisions made by the Board (22 exemption and negative clearance decisions, 74 violation of competition decisions, 309 merger control decisions);
- the total amount of administrative monetary fines imposed amounted to approximately EUR 270,000 in 2021, almost twice the amount as in 2020.
- approximately EUR 270,000 of administrative monetary fines imposed in total, nearly twice the amount as in 2020.
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