The New Settlement Regulation Has Come Into Force

Introduction

On July 15, 2021, the Turkish Competition Authority ("Authority") issued the Regulation on Settlement Procedure for Investigations on Anticompetitive Agreements, Concerted Practices, Decisions and Abuse of Dominant Position ("Settlement Regulation"), which was also published in the Official Gazette on the same day.¹

The legal basis of the Settlement Regulation is Article 43 of the Law No. 4054 on the Protection of the Competition ("Law No. 4054") as amended by the Law No. 7246 on June 24, 2020.² As per Article 43 of the Law No. 4054, after initiating an investigation and before the investigation report is notified to the parties, the Board may, upon the request of the parties concerned or on its own initiative, commence the settlement procedure. The relevant article also provides that the rules and procedures of the settlement procedure will be established by a regulation to be issued by the Board.