The importance of the competition law has been increasing more and more in Turkey and the world; thus, related knowledge and expertise in this field are required. Competition law has a separate and specific place within the scope of legal advice services provided by the ARI Attorneys at Law. Our managing partner, M. Haluk Arı, had worked for long years at the Turkish Competition Authority and gained invaluable knowledge and experience. He also led or contributed the adoption of secondary legislation, e.g.  Regulation on Fines to Apply in Cases of Agreements, Concerted Practices and Decisions Limiting Competition, and Abuse of Dominant Position (Regulation on Fines), Regulation on Active Cooperation for Detecting Cartels (Active Cooperation/Leniency Regulation), Block Exemption Communiqué on Vertical Agreements and Concerted Practices in the Motor Vehicle Sector (Communiqué No: 2005/4) and the Explanatory Brochure of this Communiqué, Block Exemption Communiqué on Technology Transfer Agreements (Communiqué No: 2008/2) and the Guidelines of this Communiqué and the Guidelines on Certain Subcontracting Agreements between Non-competitors. Mr. Arı’s experience and our team’s specialization combined, make our law firm one of the most prominent –if not the best- competition law consulting firm of Turkey.

Main services offered by ARI Attorneys at Law within the context of competition law:

Competition Law Compliance Program

This program is a sort of preventive medicine and it aims to prevent the violations by making sure that the companies comply with the rules of the competition law. Class education, online learning, assessment to measure the level of consciousness, making simulations correlative of the reviews of the Turkish Competition Authority and preparation of the handbooks are included within the scope of the program. In accordance with the needs and demands of the company, all these services can be offered as a package deal or separately under the name of Competition Law Compliance Program.

Advocacy Services

Turkish Competition Board may impose an administrative fine of 10% of gross turnover of undertakings. The Board can also impose fines on the executives or employees of undertakings that involve in the violation up to 5% of the amount of fine. As the administrative fines are quite heavy, the defence should be meticulously prepared in the investigation processes carried out by the Turkish Competition Board. The expert staff of ARI Attorneys at Law, having done advocacy in various investigations carried out in different industries, represents their clients in the best way before the Turkish Competition Board with their knowledge and experience.

Merger and Acquisition Procedures

In commercial life, undertakings can merge with the other undertakings permanently due to various purposes. Since the merger and acquisition procedures generally provide more power and advantages in the relevant market, the parties must get permission from the Turkish Competition Board in case their turnover threshold excesses the limit estimated by the competition regulations.

Within this context, ARI Attorneys at Law prepares the required applications for permission for the undertakings that involved in the merger and acquisition procedures including privatization and makes application to the Board. While the permission received from the Turkish Competition Board is the last step for such procedures in general, Our Firm also offers services for the undertakings before this procedure to prepare legal due diligence in order to decide on merger or acquisition.

Negative Clearance and Exemption Application

Agreements between the undertakings may not be included within the Act on the Protection of Competition no.4054. Negative clearance certificate for designating these kinds of agreements could be obtained by applying to the Turkish Competition Authority. Such Agreements may be permitted since they provide more benefit than harm to the competition, even though such agreements have negative consequences on competition in the market. Notwithstanding the approval of the Turkish Competition Authority for the exemption is optional, individual exemption application to the Turkish Competition Authority may be made to disambiguate these kinds of agreements providing the conditions present in the Act. In this context, Our Firm offers consultancy service concerning negative clearance and the individual exemption application and its evaluation.

The industries we provide competition law consultancy are listed below:

• Automotive
• Insurance
• Media
• Energy
• E-Commerce
• FMCG
• Petroleum
• Cosmetics
• Banking
• Tourism
• Technology
• Durable goods
• Pharmaceuticals