The Turkish Competition Authority Has Published a Regulation on the Principles and Procedures of the Settlement MechanismAltug Ozgun,Burcu Seven
01.09.2021
The Turkish Competition Authority’s (“Authority”) Regulation on the Settlement Procedure to be Applied to Investigations on Anticompetitive Agreements, Concerted Practice, Decisions and Abuse of Dominant Position (“Regulation”) has been published in the Official Gazette dated 15 July 2021 numbered 31542. You can read the Regulation in the Official Gazette here. (Available in Turkish only). BackgroundLaw No. 7246 Amending the Law on the Protection of Competition (“Law No. 7246”), which amends the Law on the Protection of Competition No. 4054 ("Law No. 4054"), entered into force on being published in the Official Gazette dated 24 June 2020 and numbered 31165. One of the significant mechanisms that has been brought into force through Law No. 7246 is the settlement procedure. 1. Scope of the Settlement MechanismUndertakings or associations of undertakings under investigation for behavior prohibited in Articles 4 and 6 of Law No. 4054, and who admit the existence and scope of their violation, can apply for the settlement mechanism. 2. General Principles of SettlementThe Turkish Competition Board (“Board"), ex officio or upon the parties’ request, may initiate the settlement process at any time after an investigation is initiated, until the notification of the final investigation report. The parties involved in the investigation can submit a request for settlement; the Board may accept or reject the request, or they may decide to involve other parties in the settlement. The Board may also ex officio invite the parties to settlement negotiations. In such cases, according to Article 5(3) of the Regulation, the invited parties must notify the Authority as to whether they intend to participate in settlement negotiations in writing within 15 days of receipt of the invitation. Following the expiration of this period, any requests for settlement will not be accepted and the Board will proceed with the investigation against the parties. When initiating the settlement procedure during an investigation, the Board considers the procedural benefits of concluding the investigation process expeditiously, and the existence and scope of the alleged violations, especially regarding: It must be noted that initiating a settlement procedure does not mean that the process will conclude in a settlement. The Board may decide to terminate the settlement process if it considers: 3. The Settlement ProcessAccording to the Regulation, once a party’s request for settlement is accepted or the Board's invitation is duly accepted, the Authority will commence the settlement negotiations as soon as possible. It must be noted that, Article 6 (2) of the Regulation states that a party’s participation in settlement negotiations does not indicate their admission of the existence of the alleged violations or their scope. Parties can waive negotiations for the settlement until the submission of the settlement letter. During the negotiations, the Board informs the parties of: The settlement process and negotiations proceed separately for each of the parties in the investigation. This means that in investigations with multiple parties, the settlement procedure can only be initiated for those parties that choose to settle and to meet the necessary conditions. Therefore, it is not mandatory for all parties to apply for settlement, and the Board does not have to accept all settlement requests submitted by parties. Interim Decision:Following the settlement negotiations, the Board issues its interim decision regarding the conditions and consequences of the settlement. The interim decision includes: Settlement Letter:If parties to the settlement accept the interim decision, they must submit a settlement letter signed by their authorized representative, which includes their explicit statement: As per Article 8 (4) of the Regulation, a duly submitted settlement letter cannot be withdrawn. In the event of missing information, the Board will grant the submitting party a period of seven days to address the issues. Failure to do so within the time period will result in the Board terminating the settlement process and proceeding with an investigation. The Regulation also states that the parties applying for settlement can also apply for leniency in the scope of the Active Cooperation Regulation. When calculating the overall reduction to the administrative monetary fine, the reduction rates in the scope of the Active Cooperation Regulation and the settlement procedure are combined and applied together. However, as per Article 10 of the Regulation, the Board does not accept parties’ applications made in the scope of Active Cooperation Regulation once they have submitted the settlement letter. Settlement Decision:Within 15 days of the Authority’s acceptance of the settlement letter, the investigation is concluded for the relevant party with a final settlement decision stating the violation and the administrative fine. The settlement decision includes: 4. Results of the SettlementAs per Article 4 (4) of the Regulation, as a result of a settlement, the Board may reduce an administrative monetary fine through determining a reduction rate between 10% and 25%. If an investigation is terminated by reaching a settlement, the settling parties are not entitled to file a lawsuit for the administrative fines imposed or any other issues stipulated in the settlement letter. The Regulation states that the parties to a settlement process must show due respect to the confidentiality of the settlement negotiations, and any information and document they obtain in the scope of the process until the end of the final settlement decision. If the parties of the settlement violate their liability of confidentiality, even if such a violation is revealed after the Board’s final settlement decision, the Board is entitled to withdraw its final settlement decision and initiate a new investigation. ConclusionThe Regulation is of critical importance to undertakings as it enables them to understand the application of the settlement procedure. It is expected that undertakings will benefit from this mechanism through lower administrative fines and shorter investigations. The Regulation is also an important step in the alignment of Turkish competition regulations with EU competition law.
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