An Overview Of Margin Squeeze In Turkish Competition Law

I. Overview

Article 6 of Law No. 4054 on the Protection of Competition (the "Law No. 4054") entitled "Abuse of Dominant Position" provides a general prohibition of abuse and a non-exhaustive list of examples. Although the list does not specifically categorize margin squeeze (or price squeeze) as a form of abuse, margin (price) squeeze was listed as a form of exclusionary abuse under the Guidelines on the Assessment of Exclusionary Abusive Conduct by Dominant Undertakings published in January 2014 (the "Guidelines"). The Guidelines are based on the same principles as the Guidance on the European Commission's Enforcement Priorities in Applying Article 82 of the European Commission Treaty to Abusive Exclusionary Conduct by Dominant Undertakings ("EU Guidance"). According to paragraph 61 of the Guidelines, margin squeeze occurs "when an undertaking active in a vertically related market that is dominant in the upstream market sets the margin between the prices of the