Fintech in Turkey: Regulation & Competition Law Update
A lot has changed in the outlook of fintech regulatory ecosystem since the last four months in Turkey. Starting from Central Bank’s Regulation on Payment Services and Electronic Money and Payment Service Providers; Turkish Competition Authority, with its game-changing Report on Financial Technologies in Payment Services, and Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (“BRSA”), issuer of …
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New Footprints in the Framework of SEPs and FRAND Terms
The intersection between intellectual property and competition law is always on the agenda of lawmakers. Since there is an imbalance between the exclusivity rights ensured by intellectual property law and anti-competitive practices that the competition law protects, the notion of standard-essential patents (SEP) and a commitment to license these patents on a fair, reasonable and …
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The TCA’s Stance on No-poaching Agreements: A Comparative Analysis
The labor market has gradually increased its place on the agenda of competition law, especially in the last ten years. No-poaching agreements (agreements between competitors to not transfer employees from each other) come first among the elements that constitute the subject of competition law in the labor market. Like the other competition authorities, the Turkish …
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Attorney-Client Privilege from Competition Law Perspective: Comparison Between Turkish and French Legal Systems
The attorney-client privilege is a common law concept of legal professional privilege in the United States. The concept also exists in civil law countries where there is a secrecy obligation on the part of professionals in guaranteeing that clients’ confidential information is kept secret from disclosure to third parties. The civil law concept of attorney-client …
The Court’s Fact Check: The First-Degree Court Quashes in Part and Affirms in Part the Comprehensive Interim Measures Decision Brought by the Turkish Competition Authority Against Trendyol
Until recent times, an interim measure decision of the Turkish Competition Authority (“TCA”) was something hard to come by. However, with the growing prominence of digital markets and the equally strong response from the competition authorities, that situation has changed as well. The latest experience shows that the TCA is more determined to actively use …
Administrative Court Decided to Stay the Execution of Turkish Competition Authority’s Decision of Administrative Monetary Fine for Hindrance of On-site Inspection (Sahibinden.com)
As is well known, the Turkish Competition Authority (“TCA”) is authorized to examine all data and documents on electronic platforms and information systems during the on-site inspections pursuant to the amendment dated 16.06.2020 on Article 15 of Law No. 4054 on the Protection of Competition (“Competition Law”). Subsequently, the TCA published the Guidelines on the …
Automotive Companies are Cleared of the Allegations of Stockpiling and Competitively Sensitive Information Exchange!
The automotive sector has been on the radar of the Turkish Competition Authority (“TCA”) for a long time. In this sense, the TCA conducted an investigation (“Investigation”) regarding the allegations that some undertakings operating in the first-hand and second-hand automotive markets violated Law. No. 4054 on the Protection of Competition (“Competition Law”) via stockpiling and …
Lack of Evidence is not Evidence: TCA’s Differing Approach to Standard of Proof for Hinderance of On-Site Inspections
In accordance with the Turkish Competition Authority’s (“TCA”) decision dated 25.11.2021 and numbered 21-57/796-M, the TCA initiated an investigation against undertakings in the market for fast-moving consumer goods to ascertain whether Article 4 of Law No. 4054 on the Protection of Competition (“Competition Law”) has been violated. Within this scope, the TCA conducted an on-site …
Of SIEC-Test and Thresholds: Merger Control 2022 in Turkey
The substantial rules of the Turkish merger control are taken from the corresponding EU provisions. The amendments to the Turkish Competition Law in 2020 introduced the SIEC test to improve the concentration control regime and harmonize it with the EU rules even further. The amended Merger Communique in 2022 revised the thresholds as a response …
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Turkish Competition Authority Terminated its Investigation Against Leading e-Scooter Rental Firm with Commitments
New markets are under the intense scrutiny of the Turkish Competition Authority (“TCA”) due to new competitive concerns arising from the disruption that has emerged with the technological changes in the markets. Recently, the TCA has shifted its focus to emerging markets while monitoring the traditional markets constantly. In this framework, in July, the TCA …