NEWSLETTER-2017

87 COMPETITION LAW This situation was complex at first glance. Firstly, the Competi- tion Board had not qualified the claims as insignificant or insufficient. At the same time, it had not opened an investigation, nor had it made a more detailed examination. The Competition Board clearly stated that according to the obtained evidence, the activities of distributors cause problems in terms of liberating the electricity sector, mean- ing that these activities cause problems in terms of providing proper competition; however, it did send a written warning on this issue. In addition, it intended for the EMRA to examine this issue within the scope of sectoral regulations by sending it the obtained information and documents. In other words, the Competition Board preferred the EMRA to solve this issue, which may be considered to be a violation of competition, according to the regulation. In a sense, the Compe- tition Board preferred to terminate the violation by way of sectoral regulation, instead of through the application of competition law. Another interesting issue about the decisions in the aforesaid pe- riod is that the case handlers who had requested that an investigation be initiated concerning CLK and Enerjisa, despite the Competition Board’s view, had also adopted the Competition Board’s view in the subsequent Gediz-Aydem decision. Accordingly, the case handlers found sufficient it expedient to send a warning according to Article 9/3, instead of opening an investigation. On the one hand, the case handlers in the Gediz-Aydem decision found it unfair to request an investigation against the undertakings concerned, considering the resolution of the CLK and Enerjisa decisions. Sector Inquiry and Future Signals The Sector Inquiry was published in the year following the Com- petition Board’s highly disputed distribution decisions. The expert group that wrote the Sector Inquiry are virtually identical to the case handlers in the above-mentioned decisions in the distribution market. On the other hand, the Sector Inquiry comprises more stable and ac- curate observations than the aforesaid decisions. The Sector Inquiry particularly states that the authorized supply companies, which are of the same economic integrity as the distribution companies, engage in various practices to complicate the operations of independent pro- viders and prevent the exercise of consumers’ right to choose their