The investigation, which was conducted according to the Competition Board decision dated 04.01.2024 and no 24-01/5-M to determine whether Bağdat Pazarlama Ticaret Limited Şirketi and Deva Baharatları Gıda Sanayi ve Ticaret Limited Şirketi violated Article 4 of the Act no 4054 on the Protection of Competition by resale price maintenance has been concluded.
Since Bağdat Pazarlama Ticaret Limited Şirketi and Deva Baharatları Gıda Sanayi ve Ticaret Limited Şirketi operates within the same economic unity, they are considered as a single undertaking as “Bağdat and Deva Economic Unity” under the scope of the investigation.
During the investigation process, the settlement text submitted by Bağdat and Deva Economic Unity was accepted with the Competition Board decision dated 18.04.2024 and no 24-19/423-173 and it was decided that the investigation shall be concluded.
In this context, Bağdat and Deva Economic Unity acknowledged that it set the resale prices of its buyers and thus violated article 4 of the Act no 4054 on the Protection of Competition. Since the investigation was concluded with settlement, 25% reduction was applied to the administrative fines and Bağdat and Deva Economic Unity was imposed 2.788.758,20 TL administrative fines.
As known, within the scope of the settlement procedure, which was brought to competition law legislation as a result of the amendments made to article 43(5) of the Act no 4054 on the Protection of Competition according to the Act dated 16.06.2020 and numbered 7246, the Board may start the settlement procedure on the request of the parties concerned or on its own initiative taking into account the procedural benefits that may arise from a rapid resolution of the investigation process and the differences in opinion concerning the existence and scope of the infringement, and decide to conclude the investigation.