As known, the Regulation on Active Cooperation for Detecting Cartels, which was published in the Official Gazette dated 15.02.2009 and no 21142 has been in force for more than fourteen years.  In light of the outcomes of enforcement observed since the Regulation was put into effect, the amendments to the relevant legislation, in particular settlement procedure, and the enforcement in peer countries, the regulation about active cooperation needs to be updated. As a result, a new draft regulation has been prepared. 

The “Draft Regulation On Active Cooperation For Detecting Cartels” (Active Cooperation Regulation Draft) primarily aims the following:

• To regulate the requirement to submit a document with added value to make a clear distinction between the active cooperation procedure, which is basically a method to obtain evidence, and the settlement procedure, which is an alternative procedure of terminating a case, 
• To provide legal certainty related to how the parties to a hub-and-spoke cartel as well as those who are in a vertical relationship or other cartel facilitators, who are deemed responsible in the same manner as parties to the cartel in terms of administrative sanctions in practice, can benefit from active cooperation, 
• To bring a reasonable deadline for active cooperation applications so that the investigation procedures with a legal time limit are not hindered, 
• In case the applicant finds new information and documents, to set the deadline for submitting those, 
• To determine the consequence of the active cooperation applications in cases where the applicants make an active cooperation application thinking that they may have engaged in a cartel and the Board accepts and takes a decision about the application; however, the Board concludes that the violation is not a cartel at the end of the investigation,
• To change and standardize the wordings in several articles.

The Active Cooperation Regulation Draft has been opened to public opinion  per the Board decision dated 28.09.2023 and numbered 23-46/884 and the opinions, recommendations and evaluations concerning the draft can be sent to duzenleme@rekabet.gov.tr until 09.10.2023 in accordance with the opinion form given below.

Click here for the Draft Active Cooperation Regulation and here for the opinion form.

NOTE: The person/institution sending an opinion as well as contact information should be included in the opinion form and “Active Cooperation Regulation” should be written in the subject part of the e-mail.