As it is known, an investigation was launched upon the allegations that Coca Cola Satış ve Dağıtım A.Ş. (CCSD), which operates in many product categories in the non-alcoholic commercial beverages market, prevented the sale of competing products at its final points of sale and violated the Act no 4054 on the Protection of Competition.

An application was made for the initiation of the commitment process with respect to competitive concerns in the file by CCSD, pursuant to the “Communique no 2021/2 on the Commitments to be Offered in Preliminary Inquiries and Investigations Concerning Agreements, Concerted Practices and Decisions Restricting Competition, and Abuse of Dominant Position”, which was published in the Official Gazette dated 16.03.2021 and entered into force.

Within the scope of the negotiations during the commitment process, considering that the commitment package dated 02.09.2021 submitted by CCSD is proportional to the competition problems, able to solve those, quickly realizable and efficiently applicable, it is decided that the relevant commitment package shall be binding and the investigation shall be terminated.

The Competition Board monitors the non-alcoholic commercial beverages sector closely like other sectors. The sector was examined in detail with the decision of the Competition Board dated 10.09.2007 and it was decided that CCSD, which was determined to be in a dominant position in terms of carbonated beverages, would terminate concluding exclusive dealership agreements for these products (the practice of having only CCSD products at the points of sale). In addition, various regulations were introduced, such as making 20% of CCSD-owned refrigerators accessible to competitors at points of sale where competitors did not have refrigerators. In this context, the Competition Board ruled that it would be appropriate to eliminate competitive problems with new regulations, taking into account the changes in the sector in the period of approximately 14 years.

In respect of the transparency policy followed by the Competition Authority, this announcement aims to inform the public and industry shareholders about the content of the accepted commitment package. The summary of the commitment package prepared by CCSD is given below:

1.   Three different contracts instead of one contract: Separate contracts will be drawn up for (1) “Cola Drinks”, (2) “Other Carbonated Products” and (3) “Non-carbonated Products” instead of “General” contracts, which are arranged by CCSD to include the entire product portfolio at points of sale such as grocery stores and markets.

Other Carbonated Products will consist of “flavored soft drinks” and “unflavored soft drinks” sub-categories; Non-carbonated Products will consist of the subcategories of “water and soda water”, “fruit juice and iced tea”, “energy drinks” and “sports drinks”. Product transition between these contracts and sub-categories will be terminated.
For example, previously, each product category purchased by a sale point that made an agreement with CCSD on a total sales amount of 100 units could be deducted from the total sales amount of 100 units specified in the contract. After the adoption of the relevant commitment article, the sale amount of each category will be determined separately, therefore, if the sale point purchases products from the cola category, this will not cause any change in the water category quota.

2. Discounts, promotions and rebates will only apply to the same type of beverages: Discounts, promotions and rebates defined by CCSD for points of sale, will be specified according to “Cola Drinks”, “Other Carbonated Products”, “Non-Carbonated Products” contracts and the subcategories flavored soft drinks, unflavored soft drinks, water-soda water, fruit juice-iced tea, energy drinks, and sports drinks as stated in the first article. In other words, when a point of sale purchases a product in the cola category from CCSD, the free product to be given by CCSD for this purchase cannot be given from a different category, but can be given from the purchased product category. For example, the promotion for cola drinks will not be flavored soft drink.
3.  There will be no exclusivity regarding non-carbonated products: CCSD's single brand contracts for non-carbonated products will be terminated, apart from some exceptional cases. Therefore, CCSD will not be able to make an exclusive dealership agreement, in other words an agreement for the availability of only CCSD products, with the points of sale regarding non-carbonated products.
4.  Contract periods will not exceed two years: Apart from some exceptional cases, CCSD's limited term contracts will be limited to two years, and if the validity period of the quantity contracts exceeds two years, the point of sale will be granted the right to leave the contract without any penalty. 
5.  The products of competitors that do not have a refrigerator will be allowed: The scope of the 20% refrigerator availability rule applied up to date according to the decision of the Competition Board dated 10.09.2007 will be expanded. Accordingly, 25% of CCSD's beverage refrigerators will be accessible for competing products in terms of points with an area under 100 m2 in the traditional channel and points in the on premise consumption channel. In this context, the products of other competitors without a refrigerator will be allowed in 25% of CCSD cabinets, regardless of whether a competitor other than CCSD has a refrigerator at the point of sale.
6.  New regulation for purchase conditions: The phrase "by regular and continuous purchase" in CCSD's contracts will be retained only in contracts involving cash investment (cash support given to the point of sale), and will be removed from the contracts in terms of provisions containing rebate-discount-promotions other than cash investments. However, the non-compliance of the sale point with the aforementioned statement in contracts containing cash investments and including this phrase will not create any penal clauses for the point.
7.   Obligation to inform: CCSD will inform the consumers and sale points within the scope of the accepted commitment article 5 regarding the refrigerator accessibility rule. 
8. CCSD will also inform the points of sale whose contracts are still in effect within the scope of the accepted commitment articles 1, 2 and 3.
9.   The regulations about the contracts currently in progress will be completed within one year as of the notification of the reasoned decision, and compliance work in terms of other commitment articles will be concluded by 31 December 2021.
10.  In case of any regulation not covered by the commitment text submitted by CCSD, the text of the reasoned decision of the Competition Board dated 10.09.2007 will be taken as the basis.

As a result, with the commitment package submitted

•   The opportunity of the competitors to have products at points of sale will increase with the new regulation in the refrigerator accessibility rule,
•  Consumers will have a wider product range at the points of sale,
•  Competitive concerns arising from the strength of the product portfolio will be eliminated by separating the carbonated and non-carbonated drinks by including sub-categories,
•  Competitive elements in the relevant markets will become comparable for competitors and points of sale,
•  Information given by CCSD will increase the awareness about the commitments to be implemented,
•  Shortening contract periods, apart from exceptional areas, will make the market more competitive,
•  Ending non-carbonated exclusivity with some exceptions will increase competition in the relevant markets.

Respectfully announced for the information of the public and sector shareholders.