In response to the decision of the 9th Chamber of the Ankara Administrative Court, Competition Board re-evaluated the application claiming that the “Protocol on the Provision of Medicine to Persons under the Social Security Institution from Turkish Pharmacists' Association Member Pharmacies,” which was signed between the Social Security Institution and the Turkish Pharmacists' Association on 01.02.2012, and the related practices violated the Act no 4054 by abusing dominant position as well as by preventing and distorting competition in a market for goods and services through exclusive distribution of prescriptions and allocating prescriptions between pharmacies based on ranks/limits.

Previously, as a result of the preliminary inquiry conducted on the claims in question, The Board had decided that the complaint should be rejected and no investigation should be initiated on 19.02.2014, with number 14-07/132-59. However, following the suit filed against the decision in question, the relevant Board decision was annulled with the 9th Chamber of the Ankara Administrative Court’s decision dated 19.11.2015 and numbered E:2014/1622, K:2015/1811.

After discussing the information and documents included in the file in its meeting of 30.03.2016, the Board took the decision no 16-12/191-M to launch an investigation on the Turkish Pharmacists' Association, İzmir 3rd Region Chamber of Pharmacists, Adana Chamber of Pharmacists, Bursa Chamber of Pharmacists, Adıyaman Chamber of Pharmacists, Antalya Chamber of Pharmacists, Uşak Chamber of Pharmacists and Giresun Chamber of Pharmacists, in accordance with article 41 of the Act no 4054.

As is known, article 4 of the Act no 4054 prohibits anti-competitive agreements and concerted practices between undertakings, while article 6 prohibits abuses of dominant position. The investigation was initiated in order to establish whether articles 4 and 6 of the Act no 4054 were violated.