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with this regard was prepared in 19982 (“1998 Guideline”) and was
applied for a period of eight years. In the light of an eight year-long
experience, it outlived its usefulness and inevitably, and the 2006
Guideline was prepared.
The Scope of the Regulation
With Regards to Actions in Violation of Competition
The Regulation on Fines regulates the administrative fines to be
imposed in the event the situations described under Articles 4 and 6 of
the Competition Act take place.
Article 4 of the Competition Act governs the anti-competitive
agreements, concerted practices and decisions limiting competition;
whereas, Article 6 governs the abuse of dominant position.
Nevertheless, Article 8 (1) of the Regulation on Fines includes the term
“cartel”. Although the term “cartel” is used by scholars and in Board
decisions, it is not explicitly mentioned under the Competition Act. It
is seen that the 2006 Guideline does not contain the term “cartel”
either. The term “cartel” is mentioned only twice under the 2006
Guideline within brackets in order to ensure compliance with the
Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), which does
not contain the term “cartel”. Likewise, the 1998 Guideline used the
term “cartel” only within quotation marks. For these reasons, the
Regulation on Fines is formally noncompliant with the 1998 and 2006
Guidelines.
From the Turkish law perspective, the usage of a term not men-
tioned under the Competition Act in the Regulation on Fines and
imposing sanctions upon cartels violates the “nulla crimen sine lege/
no crime and punishment without law” principle.
With Regards to the Individuals Infringing Competition
The Regulation on Fines regulates that both the undertakings and
association of undertakings, and their directors and employees who
124 NEWSLETTER 2012
2 Please see the following link to access the 1998 Guideline
NOT (accessed on: 30.05.2012).