Intelligence

This article examines the legal structure and termination of exclusive distribution relationships affecting the Turkish market. It considers contractual classification, territorial protection, resale pricing, non-compete obligations, competition compliance, goodwill indemnity, customer information, intellectual property and dispute resolution.

Following a sector inquiry launched in December 2021 to detect structural competition concerns in the pharmaceutical sector and offer competitive solutions, the Turkish Competition Authority (“TCA”) published its Pharmaceutical Sector Inquiry Preliminary Report on 10 August 2026, opening it for public consultation. The report examines the overall outlook of the sector together with quantitative and statistical data, summarises the TCA's enforcement activities in the sector over the past ten years, and assesses the competitive structure across the full supply chain: production, market entry, and distribution.

The Turkish Competition Board (“TCB”) conditionally cleared A101’s acquisition of sole control over CarrefourSA, subject to a package of structural and behavioural remedies offered by A101.

The U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) has reached a proposed settlement under which KKR & Co. GP LLC (“KKR”) would pay USD 250 million for repeated breaches of U.S. premerger notification rules. If approved, the fine would be the largest ever imposed for violations of the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act, the federal law requiring advance notification of certain large mergers and acquisitions, and more than 20 times the DOJ’s previous record.

The Turkish Competition Board has partially lifted commitments previously imposed on Yemeksepeti, finding that the online food delivery market has evolved from a near-monopoly to a competitive multi-player environment. This decision examines how binding commitments may be reassessed when market conditions materially change, and explores the treatment of most-favoured-nation clauses under both antitrust and abuse of dominance provisions.

The Turkish Competition Authority has issued several significant decisions in August 2026, including conditional approval of Paramount's acquisition of Warner Bros., acceptance of commitments from ETS Tur regarding exclusivity practices in tourism, and administrative fines against Babymall for vertical restrictions. New investigations have been launched into TEVA's patent strategies and information exchange in plant protection markets, while the preliminary pharmaceutical sector inquiry highlights competiti