NEWSLETTER-2019-metin

Final and Interim Decisions of the Turkish Competition Board* Att. Can Yildiz Introduction Pursuant to Law on the Protection of Competition numbered 4054 (“Law”), the Turkish Competition Authority (“Authority”) has been equipped with a broad range of powers in order to ensure the undis- rupted flow of competition in the goods and services markets in Tur- key. The Competition Board (“Board”), which is the decision-making and executive body of the Authority, scrutinizes the issues prohibited by the Law ex officio or upon complaints; it imposes administrative monetary fines on those that violate the Law and takes the necessary measures to terminate such violations; it approves mergers and acqui- sitions that result in permanent change in control, and conducts many other operations. The Board executes its operations and acts through the decisions it makes. In other words, competition law is mainly ap- plied through the Authority’s examinations, as well as the decisions rendered by the Board. In terms of legal characteristics, the decisions of the Board are economic law enforcement activities. In this context, each Board deci- sion is an administrative act. Therefore, since the Board is an extension of the administration as an “independent administrative authority,” or as a regulatory institution, as is commonly expressed, the Board’s de- cisions are subject to administrative judicial review. Under the Law, there are detailed procedural rules regarding the situations under which the Board will initiate an investigation, which powers it will practice in these investigations and to what extent, how long the investigations will last, the rights of the undertakings * Article of November2019