NEWSLETTER-2020-metin

155 COMPETITION LAW The Commitment Mechanism in Competition Law Investigations in Turkey and the European Union* Att. Elif Mungan Özdoğan Introduction Law numbered 7246, Amending the Law on Protection of Com- petition numbered 4054 (“Amending Law”), has been published in Official Gazette numbered 31165, and dated 4 June 2020, entered into force on the same day. This Amending Law has brought signifi- cant changes to Turkish competition law practice. The introduction of the commitment mechanism within preliminary and fully fledged investigations was one of the noteworthy changes that the Amending Law provided. Accordingly, through the Amending Law, and in line with the European Union legislation, the commitment mechanism has been included in Article 43 of the Law on Protection of Competition numbered 4054 (“Law numbered 4054”), which regulates “Initiating an Investigation.” The relevant addition included in Article 43 of Law numbered 4054 is as follows: “ Relevant undertakings, or associations of underta - kings, may offer commitments in order to eliminate the competition problems under Articles 4 or 6 that may arise during an ongoing preliminary inquiry or investigation process. If the Board decides that the proposed commit - ments can resolve the competition problems, it may render these commitments binding for the relevant undertakings , or associations of undertakings, and decide not to initiate an investigation, or to terminate an ongoing investigation. Commitments shall not be accepted for naked and hard- core infringements, such as price-fixing between compe - titors, region and customer allocation, or supply restricti - * Article of November, 2020