The Turkish Competition Authority announced that it had concluded its investigation into Frito Lay Gıda Sanayi ve Ticaret A.Ş. ("Frito Lay") with its decision dated 13.02.2025 and numbered 25-06/152-78. In accordance with this decision, the Turkish Competition Board ("Board") ruled that Frito Lay violated Article 4 of the Law on the Protection of Competition No. 4054 ("Law No. 4054") and imposed an administrative fine of 1,365,467,533.01 TL on the undertaking, along with certain behavioral remedies. The decision provides significant considerations regarding sales points under 200 square meters.
Frito Lay’s Violation of Competition Rules
The Board determined that Frito Lay engaged in exclusivity practices that hindered the activities of its competitors at sales points such as grocery stores, markets, and kiosks that purchased packaged chips from the company. It was concluded that the undertaking restricted the sale of competing products through agreements and de facto practices with sales points, thereby violating Article 4 of Law No. 4054.
Furthermore, the Board found that Frito Lay’s market practices did not meet the conditions for block exemption granted under the decision numbered 04-32/377-95, issued in 2004, and thus decided to revoke this exemption. Accordingly, all discounts, free products, and other financial advantages provided by the undertaking must be restructured to ensure they do not have an exclusionary effect on competitors.
Administrative Fine and Sanctions
The Board imposed an administrative fine of 1,365,467,533.01 TL on Frito Lay pursuant to Article 16 of Law No. 4054. In addition, a series of behavioral remedies were introduced to terminate the undertaking’s anti-competitive practices and ensure effective competition in the market.
Within this scope, some of the obligations imposed on Frito Lay concerning sales points under 200 square meters are as follows:
• In sales points where there is no competing stand, 30% of the vertical and visible area of Frito Lay stands must be allocated exclusively for competing products.
• The allocated section must be separated by a divider, and each compartment in this section must visibly display a label stating: “This section is reserved for competing chip products.”
• If, for any reason, competing products are unavailable or out of stock at the sales point, the allocated section must remain empty and must not be stocked with Frito Lay products.
• No guidance targeting the availability or visibility of competing products at sales points shall be provided.
• Frito Lay may place only one chip stand per sales point.
• Except for standard purchasing transactions, financial benefits shall not be provided to retail sales points.
• With the inclusion of competing products in sales points, the range of options available to consumers will increase.
Conclusion
In its decision dated 18.03.2021 and numbered 21-15/190-80 concerning Unilever, the Board had previously introduced similar behavioral remedies for sales points under 100 square meters in the ice cream market. With the Frito Lay decision, the Board once again reaffirmed its objective of protecting competition in the retail sector, including small-scale sales points such as kiosks, grocery stores, and small markets, and preventing restrictions on consumer choices.
This decision is considered a significant step towards protecting market competition and offering consumers a wider variety of products. The effective enforcement of competition law is of critical importance for maintaining the balance of a free market economy.