NEWSLETTER-2020-metin

178 NEWSLETTER 2020 tive regions, (iv) Investigated Undertakings have been applying lower prices in retail sales and, therefore, were hindering the complainant’s activities, which acts as a wholesaler. Rapporteurs’ Opinions Rapporteurs assigned on the case stated that there was no evidence that the Investigated Undertakings were in breach of competition law and, therefore, there was no need to initiate a full-fledged investiga- tion. Having said that, they also stated that it would be appropriate to send opinions to the Investigated Undertakings pursuant toArticles 9/1 and 9/3 of Law on Protection of Competition numbered 4054, (“Law No. 4054”) stating that they must refrain from agreements and con- certed practices between undertakings that directly or indirectly aim to prevent, distort or restrict competition, or which may cause such effect on the market in which they operate. The Board Decision is, therefore, significant in the sense that although there was no evidence of breach in relation to the Investigated Undertakings’ activities, the rapporteurs have recommended taking the measures as set forth under Article 9 of Law No. 4054, titled “Termination of Breach.” The Board’s Evaluation In order to evaluate the cartel allegations, the Board firstly exam- ined domestic average egg production and consumption amounts for 2017 and 2018. Upon its evaluation, the Board stated that the increase in production per person was higher than the consumption per person and, under ordinary circumstances, the prices would drop in cases of surplus of supply. Therefore, the Board stated that in order to examine the increase in prices in the case file, egg producers’ weighted average price movements and costs must be evaluated. Within this scope, it requested information and documents from the Investigated Undertak- ings, including their price movements since 2018 until May of 2019. After carefully examining the submitted price movements, the Board decided that the Investigated Undertakings did not increase their prices though agreements. The Board concluded that the Investigated Un- dertakings’ prices were parallel to Yumurta Üreticileri Merkez Birliği (“YUM-BİR”) prices and the reason for this was that local producers followed prices of big egg producers like YUM-BİR while determin-