Warning to Digital Entrepreneurs: Regulated Industries Can Bite…

The suspension of Booking.com’s services in Turkey has been seen as an attack on individuals’ online freedom and digital entrepreneurship as a whole. Such claims seem to be inaccurate because undertakings, irrespective of their legal form, location and mode of operation (digital/ ‘traditional’), are equally subject to, among others, (i) competition law; (ii) the respective…

Temporary Access Barrier Imposed on Booking.Com By The Turkish Court On Unfair Competition Grounds

On 29 March 2017 Istanbul’s 5th Commercial court of First Instance ruled on temporary suspension of Booking.com’s activities in Turkey on the unfair competition grounds. The Turkish court ruled in favor of Turkish Travel Agencies Association (“TURSAB”), and instructed the Information and Communication Technologies Authority (“BTK”) to freeze Booking.com’s reservation processes/search facilities for hotels in Turkey.…

Turkish Competition Authority’s Fining Natural Persons

Introduction Personal liability rules for the competition law violations and accordingly, the tracking systems to ensure that the damages caused are covered/compensated by the violating person from his/her own resources, have been under the increasing scrutiny of the competition authorities all around the world and even despite the discrepancies, some of the EU member states…

More Investigations & Fines from The Turkish Competition Authority

Electricity Companies Are Under Investigation In Turkey: Alleged Abuse Of Dominance The Turkish Competition Authority (“TCA”) is examining whether business practices of Toroslar Elektrik Dağıtım A.Ş. and Enerjisa Toroslar Elektrik Perakende Satış A.Ş. forecloses operations of independent providers and prevent the exercise of consumers’ right to choose their own providers. The TCA assesses the commercial…

Microsoft In Turkey: TCA to Launch Investigation Upon Court’s Ruling

On 4 April 2017 the Turkish Competition Authority’s (“TCA”) received and subsequently published the decision of the Council of State in relation to Microsoft case. In October 2016 the Council of State reversed the decision No 11-60/1555-550, where the TCA concluded that there was no need to initiate an investigation into Microsoft Bilgisayar Yazılım Hizmetleri…

Turkey Amends Merger Control Communiqué

Introduction The Turkish Competition Authority (the “TCA”) amended the Communiqué governing the Turkish merger control implementation (Communiqué No. 2010/4 on Mergers and Acquisitions Requiring the Approval of the Competition Board (“Communiqué”)) on February 24, 2017. While there is no change to the currently applicable notification thresholds, the amendments concern the regime for successive transactions as…