Amendments to Law No. 4054 on the Protection of Competition

Law No. 7511 on Amendments to the Turkish Commercial Code and Certain Laws (Law) was published in the Official Gazette dated 29.05.2024 and numbered 32560. Law amended (Amendment) various articles of the Law No. 4054 on the Protection of Competition (Law No. 4054). The relevant provisions of the Law, amending Law No. 4054 entered into force as of the date of their publication. The significant amendments to Law No. 4054 are summarized below:

• Before the Amendment, Art. 43/2 of Law No. 4054 stipulated that the Board shall notify the relevant parties of the investigations initiated by the Board within 15 days and the relevant parties shall submit their first written defense within 30 days following the notification of the investigation. With the Amendment, the obligation for the relevant parties to submit their first written defense has been abolished, and it has been regulated that the Board shall notify the relevant parties of the investigations initiated by the Board within 15 days from the date of the decision to initiate the investigation and will send sufficient information about the type and nature of the claims to the relevant parties together with this notification letter.
• In addition, Article 45/2, which stipulated that the Board is obliged to respond to the second written defense of the parties to the investigation by preparing an additional written opinion, has been amended to stipulate that this obligation will only be envisaged if the Board changes its opinion in the investigation report as a result of the written defense received.