Alongside cartels, which are accepted as one of the basic competition violations within the framework of article 4 of the Act no 4054, certain types of agreements between competitors and vertical agreements between undertakings at different levels of the production and distribution chain are assessed under Article 4, in case they have competition limiting effects.

Agreements between competitors
Agreements signed between competitors in order to facilitate specialization in any operation such as production, distribution or marketing, or to conduct technology transfer or joint R&D studies may lead to cooperation between the parties and create competition restricting effects such as taking joint commercial decisions or hindering the operations of third party undertakings. However, such agreements may also have efficiency creating characteristics. 

Vertical agreements
Vertical agreements which are signed between undertakings at different levels of the production and distribution chain in order to procure, sell or resell goods may have competition-restricting effects due to some obligations brought by the parties on each other. One of these obligations is the obligation not to sell competing goods, placed by the supplier on the buyer which distributes the goods. This and similar obligations may have effects such as creating market power for the parties to the agreement and to hindering the operations of third-party undertakings. On the other hand, vertical agreements may also have pro-competitive effects, especially on the basis of the efficiencies they create in distribution.

When conducting competition law assessment in relation to these agreements which may have pro-competitive effects in addition to their competition limiting aspects and which may basically be addressed under the above-mentioned two headings, the agreements are analyzed in terms of their anti-competitive and pro-competitive effects and those agreements which lead to net competitive benefits may be granted exemption from the prohibition of article 4 of the Act no 4054, under the block or individual exemption regime.

The block exemption regime is regulated with the Block Exemption Communiqué on Vertical Agreements, no 2002/2 (Communiqué No: 2002/2), and the application principles for the Communiqué no 2002/2 are explained in the Guidelines on Vertical Agreements.

In case vertical agreements which are assessed under article 4 as a result of their competition restricting effects do not fall under the scope of the block exemption, they are subjected to an exemption examination under article 5 of the Act no 4054 and are analyzed in terms of their benefits and harms. At this point, it must be noted that there is no notification obligation for such agreements, which means exemption assessment must primarily be conducted by undertakings and association of undertakings. When conducting exemption assessments, undertakings and associations of undertakings should take block exemption communiqués, guidelines explaining these communiqués and previous decisions of the Board into consideration, in addition to the requirements listed in article 5.

Dealership Agreements
Dealership Agreements are one of the types of vertical agreements made among undertakings at different levels of the production/service chain for the purposes of resale of goods. In dealership agreements, one party is the supplier of the goods or services and the other party is the buying undertaking which is the reseller of that product. Dealership agreements are considered under article 4 of the Act no 4054 in case they include competition limiting effects. In such agreements, generally supplier places certain place obligations on the buyer, such as an obligation not to sell competing products or not to sell outside of an allocated region. Such dealership agreements are addressed under article 4 of the Act no 4054, but they can be granted exemption if they meet certain requirements.

There are two block exemptions related to dealership agreements:
Block Exemption Communiqué on Vertical Agreements, no 2002/2 (Communiqué No: 2002/2) describes, for all sectors, which requirements must be met in order for dealership agreements to be granted exemption from the application of article 4. Application principles for the Communiqué no 2002/2 are explained in detail in the Guidelines on Vertical Agreements.

In addition, Block Exemption Communiqué on Vertical Agreements and Concerted Practices in the Motor Vehicle Sector, no 2005/4(Communiqué No: 2005/4) is issued for dealership agreements concluded in the motor vehicle sector. Application principles for the Communiqué no 2005/4 are explained in detail in the Guidelines on the Explanation of the Block Exemption Communiqué on Vertical Agreements and Concerted Practices in the Motor Vehicle Sector.

As in other types vertical agreements, dealership agreements which do not fall under the scope of the block exemption may be subjected to individual exemption assessment under article 5 of the Act no 4054.