33 - Effectiveness of Competition Law Sanctions: Turkey

Summary

Turkish competition law provides a dual enforcement structure that consists of public and private enforcement. Although the legislator has attached considerable weight to private enforcement by enabling the claimants to sue for threefold damages, it is fair to say that the Act on the Protection of Competition mainly relies on public enforcement. The Act empowers the Turkish Competition Authority to enforce the law and sets out various sanctions, including structural remedies, which equip the Authority with broad powers in combating anticompetitive behavior. The prime sanction is administrative monetary fines which are based on the turnover of the infringing undertaking and can be set at a maximum level of 10 percent of the turnover of the infringing undertaking. The Act also authorizes the Authority to implement monetary fines to managers and employees in cases where they have considerable influence in the formation of infringement. Anticompetitive behavior is a misdemeanor; however, in bid-rigging, it can also give rise to a crime and trigger harsh criminal sanctions. It is generally accepted that the Act provides severe penalties for infringements; however, in practice, the sanctions have been applied somewhat inconsistently, basically due to the fact that enforcement policy lacks coherent policy goals.