The Turkish Competition Authority (“TCA”) has recently announced two significant initiatives concerning digital markets: (i) a sector inquiry into the artificial intelligence (“AI”) ecosystem and (ii) a study titled “Competition Policies in the Digital Era”. Taken together, these two initiatives demonstrate the TCA’s continued efforts to closely monitor developments in digital markets and to proactively shape competition policy in this rapidly evolving area.
First, the TCA announced the launch of a sector inquiry into the AI ecosystem, with a particular focus on generative AI. The TCA noted that the AI value chain¾shaped by access to data, computing power, and digital platforms¾raises important issues with respect to market structure, entry conditions, and the preservation of effective competition. Accordingly, the sector inquiry will examine the relationships between different layers of the value chain; the conditions governing access to critical inputs; the interactions between large technology firms and innovative start-ups; and the effects of data and computing power on competition.
The TCA also emphasized that AI is becoming increasingly important in the context of merger control. In merger review cases, AI technologies may constitute the relevant market or may require an assessment of data-driven competitive advantages, complementarities, and potential effects on innovation.
Second, the TCA announced that it has launched a study titled “Competition Policies in the Digital Era”, with a view to structuring the accumulated know-how in this field within a more systematic framework and comprehensively assessing the impact of digitalisation on competition law and policy. Through this study, the TCA aims to identify existing and potential competition concerns in digital markets, evaluate the effectiveness of available intervention tools, and contribute to policy-development.
The TCA further underlined that the complexity of competition issues in digital markets, coupled with their rapidly evolving nature, requires regulatory approaches that are flexible and dynamic.
Taken together, these developments signal that the TCA is not only strengthening enforcement through existing competition law instruments but is also assuming a leading role in the development of competition policy and new novel enforcement tools tailored to digital markets.
© Kolcuoğlu Demirkan Koçaklı Attorneys at Law 2020
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