The Concept Of Affected Markets: Misconceptions And Complications

The Merger Control Communiqué¹ of the Turkish Competition Authority, entered into force on January 1st , 2011, brought some drastic changes to the merger control procedure that are accompanied by some confusion amongst companies. Parallel to the increasing number of decisions and the clarification efforts of the TCA, some of the concepts that have caused hesitation are becoming clearer.

One of the central concepts of the new Communiqué that attracted the special interest of companies and competition law practice is the concept of "affected market." The reason for the elevated interest in the concept of the affected markets is the exclusion provision of the Communiqué that abolishes the requirement for notification of a concentration if there is no affected market, even if the turnover thresholds are exceeded.