Newsletter-21

132 NEWSLETTER 2016 the Assessment of Exclusionary Abusive Conduct by Dominant Un- dertaking (“Guidelines”). The definition of price squeeze in the Guidelines is based on the Competition Board’s (“Board”) decision dated 19.11.2008 and num- bered 08-65/1055-411 3 . As per the Guidelines, price squeeze occurs “ when an undertaking that is active in vertically related markets that is dominant in the upstream market sets the margin between the prices of the upstream and downstream products at a level, which does not allow even an equally efficient competitor in the downstream market to trade profitably on a lasting basis. ” A vertically integrated undertaking with a dominant position in the upstream market may cause price squeeze by increasing the price for the upstream product, by decreasing the price for downstream products, or by doing both concurrently. In this respect, a dominant undertaking may restrict the competition in the relevant market via transferring its market power over the upstream products to the downstream market. Conditions Sought for Price Squeeze In order to establish that competition rules are infringed, certain economic and legal conditions regarding the structure of the market should simultaneously exist wherein a vertically integrated dominant undertaking and its competitors operate 4 . As specified in the Guide- lines, the Board takes certain factors into account while determining the likelihood of conduct under examination leading to anticompetitive foreclosure by price squeeze. These factors are specified as follows: (i) the undertaking must be active in upstream and downstream markets that are connected to each other in a production chain, (ii) the up- stream product must be indispensable for operating in the downstream market, (iii) the undertaking must hold a dominant position in the up- stream market, (iv) the margin between the upstream and downstream products must be low enough to ensure that a competitor which is as efficient as the undertaking that is dominant in the upstream market 3 Board decision dated 19.11.2008 and numbered 08-65/1055-411, available at: http://www.rekabet.gov.tr/File/?path=ROOT%2f1%2fDocuments%2fGerek%25 c3%25a7eli%2bKurul%2bKarar%25c4%25b1%2fkarar2899.pdf (Accessed on: 07.12.2016). 4 OECD DAF/COMP (2009)36, Policy Roundtable on Margin Squeeze, p. 218.