The Law Amending the Turkish Commercial Code No. 7511 and Some Laws by the Grand National Assembly of Türkiye ("Law No. 7511"), is adopted on 23 May 2024. Law No. 7511, which is drafted as an omnibus bill, envisaged amendments to Articles 34, 43, and 45 of Law No. 4054 on the Protection of Competition ("Law No. 4054").
Amendments Made to Law No. 4054
The Competition Board granted with the authority to determine the status of the personnel of the Competition Authority.
An amendment is made to Article 34, titled 'Status of the Competition Authority's Personnel', of Law No. 4054 by the 3rd article of Law No. 7511.
The 3rd paragraph of Article 34 of Law No. 4054 had been annulled by the decision of the Constitutional Court dated 9 November 2022 and numbered 2020/67 E., K: 2022/139. With the amendment, this paragraph has been stipulated again. Thus, it is understood that the purpose is to eliminate the legal and factual impossibility arising from the implementation and cancellation power in terms of positions and titles, by fulfilling the requirements of the Constitutional Court judgement and to clarify the Competition Board's authority to change positions, titles, and grades.
The provision on the parties to submit their first written defences within 30 days after the notification of the investigation report has been abolished.
An amendment is made to the Article 43, titled 'Commencement of Investigation, Undertaking and Settlement', of the Law No. 4054 by the 4th article of the Law No. 7511.
The relevant undertaking was required to submit its defence within 30 days upon the notification of the Competition Board's decision to investigate, the relevant undertaking send its first written defence regarding the findings, allegations, and assessments included in the notification and within the notification.
The notification issued by the Competition Board indicated a suspicion that led to the opening of an investigation but did not contain an allegation of competition law violation against the relevant undertaking. Considering the importance of knowing the allegation and the evidence underlying the allegation for the effective exercise of the right to defence, the obligation of entities to provide written defence at this stage has been lifted.
With this change, it is understood that both enabling the parties to make a more effective defence and a faster progress of the investigation processes are intended.
Amendments were made to Article 45 titled Notification and Response.
An amendment is made to the 2nd paragraph of Article 45, titled 'Notification and Response', of Law No. 4054, by the 5th article of Law No. 7511.
In order to ensure more effective conduct of the investigation processes, it is regulated that the deadline for submission of defence within 30 days after the notification of the investigation report to the parties may be extended up to its double if justified reasons are provided, and those responsible for conducting the investigation may only provide written opinions if there is an amendment in their opinions in the investigation report. This is because there is a view that if those assigned to conduct the investigation give an additional opinion even though there is no change in their opinions in the investigation report, the repetition of the issues in the investigation report will prolong the investigation process even if no new issues are raised.
The amendments introduced by Law No. 7511 to Law No. 4054 are stated to enter into force on the date of publication in the Official Gazette.
You can access the full text of the Law at the following link:
cdn.tbmm.gov.tr/KKBSPublicFile/D28/Y2/KanunMetni/8dd7285d-d591-47e8-acdc-d7b52ced878a.htm
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