Pursuant to the Presidential Decree number 2022/426 published on the Official Gazette of September 3, 2022 (No. 31942), the Presidency resolved that the three (3) vacancies on the Turkish Competition Board ("the Board") is now filled by the re-appointment of the three (3) members whose terms had ended. Thus, the three members whose terms of office had expired are now re-assigned and the final decision quorum is re-established.
Per Article 22 of Law No.4054 on Protection of Competition ("Law No. 4054"), the Board consists of 7 members. Article 51 of Law No. 4054 provides that the quorum for meetings of the Board is five (5) members, while the decision quorum is four (4) members. As reported on August 5, the Board, the competent decision-making organ of the Turkish Competition Authority, did not have the quorum required to render final/executable decisions as the tenure of three (3) members came to an end as of the beginning of August 2022. Final decisions, including merger clearance decisions, closure of pre-investigation and investigation procedures, were pending while the Board was awaiting official assignment of new board members to re-establish final/executable decision quorum.
With the re-appointment of the members whose term had expired, the Board once again has the necessary quorum required to take final/executable decisions. The Board will now be in a position to proceed with and resolve all of the matters that were pending on its agenda without delay and without exceeding the average waiting period of those files before the Board.
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