The Competition Authority imposed fines worth 10.4 billion lira in 4 years

The president of the Competition Authority, Birol Küle, stated that the institution has imposed fines worth 10.4 billion lira in the last 4 years and said: “Violations have been intervened both in the digital sector and in many sectors different and specific measures have been taken for these violations.

In his written statement, Küle stated that the digital economy is becoming increasingly central to life and this affects competition practices.

Emphasizing that as an institution they closely follow the new dynamics that digital transformation brings and have implemented the necessary regulations and initiatives to strengthen Turkey’s position in this field, Küle stated that they determined their strategies for the digital economy in 2020 and converted a department. in a department specialized in this context.

‘$13.1 BILLION BENEFIT FOR CONSUMERS’

In this context, Küle recalled that they carried out many initial reviews, investigations and preliminary investigations and completed sector reviews in the fields of electronic market platforms and online advertising, and stated that the work on the Industry Research Report mobile ecosystem continues.

Küle noted that they have completed the reporting work on the legal regulation of digital platforms, which is also included in the Medium-Term Program.

Küle, who also evaluated the outstanding themes of the institution’s activity in recent years, continued as follows:

“The Impact Analysis Report, which shows the impact of the Competition Board’s decisions on the economy and prepared according to the OECD methodology, shows that 13.1 billion dollars of benefit were provided to consumers in the period 2021-2022.

This situation highlights once again the importance of the steps and measures adopted by our Institution in the economic field. The commitment and conciliation mechanism, one of our innovations, has also accelerated our response processes to competition violations and increased their effectiveness.

12 of the open investigations concluded with effective commitments. Regarding conciliation, 92 companies that admitted the violation paid an administrative fine of approximately 836 million lire and the investigation against them was concluded.

“All these changes have contributed to making our legislation fairer and more transparent for the business world and consumers.”

87 PERCENT OF THE SANCTIONS WERE IMPLEMENTED IN THE LAST 4 YEARS

Küle noted that criminal sanctions are an inevitable reality for the healthy functioning of competition and to prevent competition violations that have serious consequences for social well-being and said:

“Our increasingly successful examination processes, thanks to our investments in human and information technologies in recent years, have also led to an increase in fines.

When we look at data from the last 10 years, we see that 87 percent of sanctions were imposed in the last 4 years. “In these 4 years a fine of 10.4 billion lire was imposed.”

REVIEW IN ALGORITHMS

Küle pointed out that the institution’s IT staff has the competence to examine mobile and embedded devices, software codes, databases, server systems and algorithms, and stated that in this context they carry out examinations on the algorithms of e-commerce platforms. .

Küle reported that this increase in capacity caused an increase in the number of on-site investigations along with the number of investigations, and recalled that during the epidemic period important investigations such as hospital investigations and chain market investigations were carried out to protect public health. and economic stability.

Küle noted that the investigations and investigations they launched specifically for the earthquake region continue with the aim of contributing to the economic recovery of the region and preserving the conditions of fair competition, and said: “This incident shows us that the competition law does not “It only promotes economic development but also provides quick and effective solutions to social and economic difficulties.” “He has shown that he has the ability to produce.”

‘WE OPEN 30 PERCENT OF THE CABINETS TO COMPETITORS’

Recalling some important decisions of the institution, Küle noted the following about the effects of these decisions:

“With our Google research, we paved the way for comparison shopping sites and local search sites. We prevent lethal acquisitions of technology companies by eliminating equal revenue in mergers and acquisitions. In this context we should have been informed of the acquisition of Twitter, but that was not the case. An administrative fine was imposed for failure to report. We stopped imposing Facebook on WhatsApp users. They will no longer be able to use your data as they wish.

We prevented Trendyol from taking advantage of its algorithms. We end discrimination. Florists and restaurants will be able to work on the platforms they want, under the conditions they want, and they will be able to implement the campaigns they want in their own stores. We carry out reviews of sectors such as electronic markets, online advertising, pharmaceuticals and fuels.

We take x-rays of the sectors and shed light on the problems. We pave the way for real estate agents and car dealers advertising on sahibinden.com to transfer data to other competitors whenever they wish.

We do not allow collection and distribution cartels in chain markets. They punished us with a record fine of 2.7 billion lire. We also prevented manufacturers and suppliers from intervening in sales prices.

We made sure that 25 percent of Coca-Cola displays in small markets and grocery stores were open to competition. We opened 30 percent of Algida’s offices to competition. “We sanctioned competition violations in basic food products such as flour, yeast and eggs and put an end to the violations.”

SOCIAL CONSCIOUSNESS MESSAGE

Küle stated that by preventing pharmaceutical giants from imposing expensive medications on patients through agreements between themselves, they saved the public budget from this financial burden and made the following statements:

“We have carried out and continue to carry out research in the cement, ready-mixed concrete, glass and ceramics sectors. We went after anyone who prevented online sales, found them and liberalized the market. We enable the sale of bus tickets on different platforms. We have punished the infractions committed by four large companies in the fuel sector in terms of determining resale price.

As can be seen, violations have been intervened both in the digital sector and in many different sectors and specific measures have been taken against these violations.

In this context, we fulfill our quasi-judicial and antitrust obligations with great devotion, and we increase social awareness, influencing the way companies do business.

Our objective is to oppose anti-competitive interventions and market entry barriers by promoting competition based on innovation through all our activities, reports and decisions.” (AA)