Constitutional Court Decision Dated 17 February 2026

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

This article examines the Turkish Competition Board’s (“Board”) Yemek Sepeti Decision[1] (“Decision”), assessing a request for the removal of commitments made binding in 2021, under the “material change” condition of Article 43(4)(a) of Law No. 4054 on the Protection of Competition (“Law No. 4054”).

Rekabet Kurulu (“Kurul”), Paramount Skydance Corporation (“PARAMOUNT”) tarafından Warner Bros. Discovery Inc.’nin (“WARNER BROS”) tek kontrolünün devralınması işlemine, PARAMOUNT tarafından sunulan taahhütler çerçevesinde koşullu olarak izin verdi.

Merger control remedies are traditionally expected to address the competition concerns arising from a transaction. The conditional clearance mechanism allows a transaction to proceed subject to commitments designed to address those concerns, thereby preserving the economic and commercial benefits of the transaction while safeguarding effective competition. Although Türkiye, the European Union (“EU”) and the United States (“US”) apply broadly similar procedural criteria for assessing remedies, their substantive approaches to the acceptability and the scope of commitments differ significantly.

Competition enforcement has never been purely domestic, but the degree to which authorities today actively engage with their foreign counterparts, share investigative methodologies, and benchmark their findings against international practice has reached a level that would have seemed remarkable not long ago. Competition law and policy have, in parallel with globalisation, acquired an increasingly international character; cross-border cooperation between competition authorities is no longer confined to high-profile merger reviews or global cartel prosecutions, but permeates sector inquiries, investigations, and even the verification of individual arguments raised by investigated parties.

The Turkish Competition Authority (“TCA”) recently published its reasoned decision concerning a wide-ranging investigation into undertakings active in the production and sale of ready-mixed concrete in Aydın. The investigation concerned allegations of price fixing, customer and territorial allocation and resale price maintenance under Article 4 of Law No. 4054, which is broadly similar to Article 101 TFEU.

Her başlık kendi içinde özetlenmiş, ilgili olduğu yerlerde ilgili kural ya da mekanizmayı açıklayan bir Faydalı Bilgi notuyla tamamlanmıştır. Dipnotlarda, ele alınan her dosyaya ilişkin karar tarihi ve sayısı yer almaktadır.

This issue of the Competition & Trade Quarterly brings together the two parts of the bulletin. The competition section reviews eleven Turkish Competition Board decisions and announcements published during the second quarter of 2026 — merger control and joint-control assessments, conditional clearances secured through commitments, interim measures in the food sector, information exchange in labour markets, digital-platform commitments, and the criminal dimension of an ongoing cartel file.

In a preliminary investigation decision dated 26 February 2026, the Turkish Competition Board (the “Board”) accepted and rendered binding a set of commitments offered by VF Vize Danışmanlık Hizmetleri Ticaret Limited Şirketi (“VF Vize”) to address competition concerns arising from preferential access to visa appointments granted to Camelot Air Travel Turizm ve Ticaret Anonim Şirketi (“Camelot”), a travel agency affiliated with VF Vize’s subcontractor, Gateway Management Lojistik Anonim Şirketi (“Gateway”).

The Turkish Court of Cassation's Grand General Assembly has issued a landmark decision establishing that lawsuits stemming from violations of non-compete obligations under the Turkish Code of Obligations fall within the jurisdiction of commercial courts of first instance. This precedent-setting ruling, published in the Official Gazette in September 2025, provides crucial clarity on the proper judicial forum for employers seeking to enforce restrictive covenants against former employees. The decision resolve

Presidential Decision No. 11066 introduces significant changes to the threshold values that determine which companies must undergo independent audits in Turkey. This regulatory update has important implications for corporate compliance and financial reporting requirements across various business sectors.

Significant changes to M&A transaction regulations have introduced increased turnover thresholds, clarified coordination analysis requirements for joint ventures, and refined technology undertaking exceptions. These amendments streamline the notification process with particular advantages for financial investors navigating merger control requirements.

A new amendment to Turkey's commercial books regulation has been published, introducing changes to the requirements for maintaining electronic records of business documents unrelated to enterprise accounting. The Amendment Communiqué modifies existing provisions governing digital record-keeping obligations for commercial entities.

Significant developments in law and technology emerged in February 2026, including a new Turkish Personal Data Protection Board principle decision, proposed digital copyright regulation for online platforms, pay transparency discussions, OECD guidance on artificial intelligence, and a DSA investigation concerning TikTok. This update provides insights on these developments alongside recent judicial decisions in labour law and personal data protection.

Turkey has initiated a comprehensive reform process to streamline licensing procedures in the energy and mining sectors through new omnibus legislation. The most significant change involves the centralization of permitting processes, fundamentally altering how licenses are obtained and managed. This legislative overhaul, enacted through Law No. 7554 and complemented by Law No. 7555, represents a major shift in regulatory framework affecting multiple industries.

The Personal Data Protection Board has issued a significant decision addressing a widespread compliance challenge: the practice of combining privacy notices with explicit consent requests in a single document or consent mechanism. This development has important implications for organizations managing data protection obligations.

The Presidential Decision amending the criteria for determining which companies are subject to independent audit under Article 397 of the Turkish Commercial Code (No. 6102)...

The Law No. 7499 on Amendments to the Code of Criminal Procedure and Various Laws ("Law No. 7499"), known in the public as the "8th Judicial Package", is published in the Official Gazette on March 12, 2024.

Climate Law No. 7552 entered into force after being published in the Official Gazette dated 9 July 2025. This information note summarises the main provisions of the Climate Law and its implementation mechanisms.