The president of the Competition Authority, Birol Küle, announced that within the framework of its investigations in the cement and ready-mixed concrete sector, an investigation has been launched against 17 companies, focusing on the earthquake zone.

Mayor Küle reported on the recent work carried out by the authority and its competition council in the field of cement, ready-mixed concrete and construction chemicals.

Küle emphasized that they will not tolerate opportunists in these sectors and said: “Let me share for the first time the information that we have launched an investigation against 17 companies within the scope of our investigations focused on the earthquake region. During our investigations, we obtained strong evidence that the investigated companies set prices and shared customers together, and we began our investigation process. “Our sensitivity continues with the same determination.” saying.

16 OPINIONS IN THE CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS INDUSTRY

Küle stated that they began an investigation in the construction materials sector, specifically construction chemicals, and continued as follows:

“Construction chemical additives and mixtures are used as important inputs in the cement and ready-mixed concrete sectors. Similarly, we suspect that agreements were reached on pricing strategies, competitive information was exchanged, and bids were colluded. In this context, we carried out on-site inspections in 14 companies and 2 business associations in operation.

“In addition to the investigations we carry out in the cement and ready-mixed concrete sectors, it is important to detect anti-competitive behavior that emerged especially in the post-earthquake period and apply the necessary sanctions in the sectors of construction chemicals, chemical additives and mixed markets, which are important inputs in these sectors”.

THE REVIEW IS INTERNATIONAL

Noting that this investigation has an international dimension, Küle said that in the investigations they carried out they were in communication with the competition authorities of other countries, especially with the Directorate General for Competition of the European Commission, and exchanged opinions.

Küle stated that they carried out the preparatory work for the investigation launched against construction chemicals in cooperation with this institution and said: “The investigations that we started on October 17 were carried out simultaneously with the European Commission and the Markets Authority and UK Competition”. he said.

‘THE COMPETITION COUNCIL OF TURKISH STATES IS ESTABLISHED’

Küle also referred to the relations they established with the Organization of Turkish States (TDT) as an institution and emphasized that they attach importance to the cooperation and integration of the Turkish world.

Küle explained that, as an institution, they started an initiative to bring together the competition authorities of the TDT member states and shared the following information:

“We also receive support from the General Secretariat of TDT in terms of coordination. We believe its name is Turkish States Competition Council. We have largely completed the infrastructure works and have reached the establishment stage. In fact, the issue is expected to be on the agenda of the 10th Summit of the DTT Council of Heads of State, scheduled for November 3 in Kazakhstan, and the decision made by the competition authorities of the member states. . A council will be established to cooperate and develop joint projects will be included in the final declaration.

“Our objective is to carry out joint studies, visits and training activities, develop projects, share knowledge and experiences among Council members to understand and resolve current competition law problems and thus spread the culture of competition in our region” .

REQUEST FOR COOPERATION FROM THE US HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

Drawing attention to the decisions they made regarding the digital market, Küle said:

“While the world is changing rapidly, it would be impossible for us not to keep pace with this change. With the world going digital, we find ourselves in an order and pandemic where global players are trying to set rules. We increased our institutional capacity in all fields and made very important precedent decisions. There are 4 decisions we have made regarding Google, 2 investigations are ongoing. There are still countries where the process is ongoing regarding some of the investigations we have completed. We also received many questions about our Facebook-WhatsApp decision and previously Twitter decision. These arouse curiosity and are followed closely.

Our rapid and effective interventions, especially in digital markets, attract the attention of the international community. For example, the Google decisions we made in 2020 were nominated for decisions of the year as “the best enforcement decision or action taken by a competition authority or tribunal in 2020” by Global Competition Review, a leading resource and news outlet. for the competition. legal practitioners.

We are pleased to be cited as an example in competition law practices in digital markets and benefit from our experience. We understand that we are taking the right steps. For example, recently some professionals from the US House of Representatives asked us to share our experiences with our local search decision on Google.”

‘WE DON’T PUNISH WHERE WE SIT’

Regarding the imposition of fines by the Institution, Küle said: “We give the punishment they deserve to those who deserve it. I think you’ll continue to see this side of us more, but we don’t punish from where we are. We are doing very serious academic studies in the background. These selfless, intense and serious efforts are the reason why we have made so much noise abroad. “Requests for cooperation from abroad are one of the most important indicators of this.” he made the assessment of it.

Finally, Küle stated that they agreed to cooperate with Hungary and stated that the Director of the OECD Hungarian Regional Competence Center shared with them their desire to cooperate with the Institution.

In this context, Küle stressed that they will soon act together with the OECD in various fields and said:

“We will send experts from our Institution as educators/speakers to the training programs they organize. The Regional Competitiveness Center reaches a total of 16 countries, many of which are beneficiary countries that are not members of the OECD, and since these countries are our neighbors with whom we have close cultural and economic ties, we share our experiences with them. is of special interest. importance to us.

In addition to the trainings, we also agreed in principle to prepare articles describing the activities of our institution and to organize a joint international seminar in Istanbul. We are proud to know that as an institution they look at us with envy. We work hard to become an institution worthy of the centenary of our Republic. From now on we will continue working with all our strength.” (AA)