Upon the decision of the 8th Administrative Law Chamber of Ankara Regional Administrative Court, the Competition Board reevaluated the claim that Whirlpool Ev Aletleri Pazarlama ve Ticaret AŞ and Whirlpool Beyaz Eşya Sanayi ve Ticaret AŞ, which are exiting the Turkish market, transferred their authorized services to Vestel Ticaret AŞ with a secret agreement.

Previously, as a result of the preliminary inquiry about the claims in question, the decision dated 12.11.2019 and numbered 19-39/612-265 that it was not necessary to initiate an investigation regarding the claims in question according to article 41 of the Act was taken. Afterwards, the said Board decision was annulled with the decision of the 8th Administrative Law Chamber of Ankara Regional Administrative Court dated 02.11.2022 and no 2022/148 E. 2022/1272 K.

Having discussed the information and documents in the file in its meeting dated 05.01.2023, the Board took the decision no 23-01/11-M that an investigation shall be initiated concerning Whirlpool Beyaz Eşya Sanayi ve Ticaret Anonim Şirketi and Vestel Ticaret Anonim Şirketi in order to fulfill the requirements of the Court decision.

*Investigation decisions taken by the Competition Board are announced to the public after the decision is notified to the undertakings or associations of undertakings about which an investigation has been initiated. Those announcements are made within the framework of informing the public about the decisions of the Competition Board and cannot be interpreted to mean that the undertakings or associations of undertakings under investigation violated the Act no 4054, or they are or will be subject to penal sanctions under the Act.