With the announcement published on the website of the Turkish Competition Authority ("TCA") on 28.09.2023, the Draft Regulation on Active Cooperation for Detecting Cartels[1] ("Draft Regulation") was opened for public opinion.
As it is known, the Regulation in force allowed for the non-imposition of fines or reduction of fines to be imposed on cartel member undertakings that cooperate with the Authority to detect cartels.
The main amendments in the Draft Regulation can be summarized as follows:
In order to make a clear distinction between active cooperation, which is essentially a method of obtaining evidence, and settlement, which is an alternative file finalization procedure, a requirement to submit value-added documents has been introduced for those who will apply for active cooperation.
Legal certainty has been provided for those who are in a vertical relationship with the parties of the hub-and-spoke cartel or other cartel facilitators, who are held liable in the same way as the cartel parties in terms of administrative sanctions in practice, to benefit from active cooperation.
It is provided that the provisions of the Regulation shall also be applied in the event that the applicants apply for active cooperation with the idea that they may be a party to a cartel and the application is accepted and decided by the Competition Board ("Board"), but the Board does not consider the violation as a cartel at the end of the investigation process.
Pursuant to the Regulation in force, in order to reduce the fines to be imposed, undertakings, managers and employees who actively cooperate with the TCA are required to submit information and documents to the TCA before the notification of the investigation report, whereas the Draft Regulation requires the submission of information and documents to the TCA within three months following the notification of the investigation report in order to reduce the fines to be imposed.
The discount rates for fines, which will be applied within the scope of active cooperation, have been slightly reduced. In this framework, the discount rates have been updated as 25% for cases with 1/3 discount rate, 20% for cases with 1/4 discount rate and 15% for cases with 1/6 discount rate.
The Draft Regulation will be open for public consultation until 09.10.2023. Comments, suggestions and evaluations can be sent to duzenleme@rekabet.gov.tr via the form on the website of the Authority.
[1] The relevant Regulation is also known as the “Leniency Regulation”.