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cartels use to prevent or restrict competition are mentioned in the decision
as follows: (i) mutually determining the prices of products of members,
(ii) allocation of the market between the members, (iii) restricting the
production of member undertakings (controlling the amount of supply),
and (iv) bid rigging. Deriving from these points, cartels are prohibited
pursuant to Article 4 of the Competition Act.
The investigation determined that the cartel in question sometimes had
the character of an export cartel. Additionally, it decided that the aim of the
export cartel was to restrict the amount of supply in the domestic market.
Therefore, it is also within the scope of Article 4 of the Competition Act.
III. Evaluation of individual exemption
As a result of its exemption evaluation, the Board decided that the
undertakings under investigation cannot benefit from an exemption
because they do not meet the conditions envisaged under Article 5 of the
Competition Act taking into consideration the actual and possible effects
of the agreements concluded between them.
IV. General evaluation
The general evaluation states that it is not possible to determine each
and every collaboration by the undertakings during the long term that covers
all the agreements. Therefore, instead of a static approach, the concept
of “
a single continuing and long lasting understanding or cooperation
”
that covers the entire process of competition infringement should be taken
into consideration for agreements of such long duration. A reference has
also been made to previous Board decisions on Yonga Levha 1, Yonga
Levha 2, Ceramics ve Iron-Steel. In this case, an integrated approach has
been adopted to examine the coordination between the undertakings, and
in this way it was determined that Abalıoğlu, Banvit, Beypi, CP, Erpiliç,
Keskinoğlu, Pak Piliç, Şeker Piliç and Şen Piliç had actively joined in the
practices of supply restriction and price fixing.
It is also mentioned that Besd-Bir, which is the association of
undertakings, has a significant role in the sector of chicken producing.
It organizes meetings, produces statistics regarding the chicken market
through the information it obtains from its members, and shares such
statistics with requesting parties and the public. This structure places