When Your Competitor's Infringement Decision Rewrites Your Business Model: TCA's Sector-Wide Structural Separation Order In The Casting Industry

Recently, the Turkish Competition Authority (“TCA”) announced the conclusion of its investigation into the Casting Agencies Association (“KASTDER”) and undertakings active in the casting agency and talent management markets.¹ By its decision, the Turkish Competition Board (“Board”) found that the parties had infringed Article 4 of Act No. 4054 on the Protection of Competition (“Competition Act”) by jointly determining agency commission rates and terms of service and by exchanging competitively sensitive information. Administrative fines totalling TRY 42,163,586.70 (approx. EUR 800,000) were imposed on 36 undertakings and on KASTDER itself.

Measured against the Board’s recent enforcement record, neither the cartel finding nor the level of the fines is what makes the decision remarkable. What sets it apart is the remedial package adopted "in order to ensure the establishment of effective competition in the market: A set of obligations that raise two distinct concerns this article will