In the interview published in Concurrences, the President of the Turkish Competition Authority Birol KÜLE stated that during his first four-year term, the TCA has taken important steps in terms of promoting fair market practices and enhancing consumer welfare in Türkiye, closely followed the dynamics brought by digital transformation in order to adapt to the global economic landscape, which has been changing with digital transformation, and finalized the reports on the proposed amendments to the Act No. 4054 on the Protection of Competition (the Act No. 4054) related to digital platforms.

President KÜLE stated that in his second term, he aims to ensure that the TCA remains agile,
forward-thinking, and robust in its mission to promote competition and market integrity in Türkiye; accordingly, the areas of focus will be enhancing digital markets regulations, international collaboration, the knowledge of the TCA, public engagement and transparency as well as competition advocacy for strengthening the TCA.

Mr. KÜLE told that with over 25 years of history, the TCA has proven itself as a significant actor in competition law enforcement beyond the borders of Türkiye, in Europe; the TCA aims to foster cooperation and knowledge exchange culture for an effective global enforcement of competition law; within this framework, the TCA made different organizations in neighboring regions - the Balkans, the Middle East, and the Commonwealth of Independent States; “the Turkic States Competition Council” is an example of such organizations and the TCA has recently been offered cooperation with the OECD-GVH Regional Center for Competition in Hungary.

With respect to digital markets, President KÜLE pointed out that many competition authorities have made regulations about digital markets throughout the world, the TCA continues to analyze the structure and competitive conditions of the digital markets in Türkiye, policies that do not prevent innovation and that support new ideas and investments while preventing anti-competitive practices have always been an area of focus for the TCA, this can be clearly seen in the amendments made to the Communiqué No. 2010/4.

Talking about the commitment and settlement procedures in the interview, the President said that both procedures have increased the TCA’s efficiency in fighting against competition infringements and they are quick and efficient methods concerning competition violations. In addition, Mr. KÜLE also mentions the amendments to the Regulation on Active Cooperation for Detecting Cartels and informed that the terms “document with added value” and “cartel facilitator” have been added to the Regulation and the new Regulation intends to eliminate the failures in practice and increase efficiency.

Touching on the competitive problems occurred following the earthquake in February 2023, the President stated that firstly the TCA launched a sector inquiry to monitor markets in the affected regions to identify and prevent anti-competitive practices and the scrutiny especially focused on construction materials, healthcare and basic consumer goods.

Mr. KÜLE also mentioned the activities made to increase the recognition of the TCA and stated that the TCA has prepared animated cartoons about certain Board decisions to increase public awareness about competition law; in addition, social media campaigns, collaborations with educational institutions, seminars and the content in English such as “Competition Newsletter” will be enhanced.

Lastly, Mr. KÜLE talked about addressing labor markets in the context of competition law and stated that the TCA closely monitors the labor markets; agreements between employers in the form of salary fixing, no-poaching, and exchange of sensitive information may lead to the loss of talents; in order to increase awareness about anticompetitive practices in the labor market, informative statements have been published about the recent decisions concerning the labor market. 

Click here for the full interview.