NEWSLETTER-2017

112 NEWSLETTER 2017 As a consequence, the Competition Authority proposes to reorga- nize the phrase in paragraph 14 of the Vertical Guideline, as follows: “... However non-competition obligations, including those related to the period following the termination of the agreement relates to inter- brand competition, and this provision falls under Article 4 of the Act . ” At the Workshop, while some of the sector representatives argu- ing that the new Regulation envisaged in the Draft Guideline is in accordance with the Regulation of the European Commission (“Com- mission”), and that it should come into force in this manner, however, based on a different interpretation, some of them proposed that this Regulation needs to be reviewed before entry into force. Those who are of the opinion to re-evaluate the regulation have stated that it is aimed to accept that the relevant contract is within the scope of Article 4 of Law No. 4054, regardless of whether it has an effect of market closing, the manner of how to deal with the non-competition obliga- tion in the agency contracts should be revealed in light of the decisions of the Competition Board, that any agency contract containing the non-competition obligations with the proposed regulation will cause serious concerns for enterprises and, in this respect, there will be many exemption applications to the Competition Authority, thereby increas- ing the workload and, due to all of these facts, the existing Regulation in the Vertical Guideline must remain. Regulations Regarding Online Sales There is no doubt that the widespread use of the internet in Tur- key, and the increase of online sales raises the debate of introducing the new regulations into Turkish competition legislation. As is stated in the Memorandum, the Regulation in the Turkish competition leg- islation is limited to indicating that online sales are considered to be a passive selling method, and there are significant shortcomings as compared to the approach of the Commission. As is set forth in the Draft Guideline, the Competition Authority envisages a broad regulation based on the Commission’s Guidelines on prohibitions of online sales. As per the Draft Guidelines, limitations imposed on online sales will exclude vertical agreements in question from the scope of a block exemption. These limitations, in particular,