The investigation conducted to find whether 3M Sanayi ve Ticaret A.Ş. violated articles 4 and 6 of the Act no 4054 was concluded.

The investigation started after 13th Chamber of the Council of State annulled the Board decision dated 04.07.2007 and numbered 07-56/669-232 concerning the same issue. According to the said Board decision, the following practices might constitute an infringement:

• Determination of the final sale price for the sales made by its dealer Keskin İş Güvenlik Malzemeleri to Renault
• Allocating the customers of Keskin İş Güvenlik Malzemeleri in Bursa, whose dealership was terminated, between its dealers İstanbul Ticaret İş Güvenliği ve Endüstriyel Ürünler San. Ltd. Şti.and Egebant and warning those two dealers not to make sales to each other's customers
• Warning the dealer Nam based in İzmir not to make sales to the customers of İstanbul Ticaret and Egabant in Bursa
• Applying different discount rates and consequently creating disadvantageous conditions for the dealers Keskin İş Güvenlik Malzemeleri ve Ekay Elektrik Kablo Aydınlatma Tic. ve San. Ltd. Şti. compared to their competitors
therefore 3M San. ve Tic. A.Ş. should be sent an opinion as per article 9 of the Act no 4054 stating that it should avoid the aforementioned practices; otherwise, an investigation should be initiated according to article 41 of the same Act.

The complainants appealed against the decision and 13th Chamber of the Council of State annulled the Board decision with its decision numbered 2008/3117 E., 2011/5454 K.
According to the decision of 13th Chamber of the Council of State, 3 M San. ve Tic. A.Ş.’s practices did not constitute a violation under the scope of article 6 of the Act no 4054; however, an investigation should be initiated due to findings indicating a violation related to the determination of the resale price, allocation of the customers of a dealer between other dealers as well as putting some dealers in a disadvantageous position compared to other dealers by applying different discount rates.

The investigation initiated thereon examined whether 3M San. ve Tic. A.Ş determined resale prices, imposed "territory or customer" restrictions to dealers, discriminated against some of the undertakings with equal status, which are among the practices towards restricting intra-brand competition.

As a result of the discussion of the contents of the file by the Competition Board on 25.06.2014, it was decided by majority of votes that 3M San. ve Tic. A.Ş. did not violate article 4 of the Act no 4054 by determining the resale price of dealers in some sales, imposing customer or territory restrictions on dealers and applying discriminative discount rates to certain dealers in a way to create unfavorable competitive conditions.

Click here for the text of the pronouncement (in Turkish) dated 25.06.2014 and numbered 14-22/461-203, the reasoned decision for which will be notified later and which can be appealed before Ankara Administrative Courts.