Author: Merve Demirkaya
Introduction
In the decision of the Constitutional Court ("Constitutional Court" or "Court") dated 09.11.2022, numbered 2020/67 E. 2022/139 K. (the "Decision"), the annulment of certain articles of the Law Amending the Law on the Protection of Competition No. 4054 ("Law No. 7246") was requested.
These articles are Article 3 of the Law No. 4054 on the Protection of Competition ("Law No. 4054") regarding structural measures, Article 4 regarding the authority of the Competition Board ("Board") to conduct on-site examinations and Article 12 regarding the status of the personnel of the Competition Authority ("Authority"). In the Decision, only the part of Law No. 4054 regarding the appointment of the Authority's personnel as research assistants was annulled and the other provisions did not need to be annulled. In this article, the part of Article 15 of Law No. 4054 regarding the Board's authority to conduct on-site inspections is discussed together with the dissenting votes.
Background
One of the amendments made in Law No. 4054 by Law No. 7246, published in the Official Gazette numbered 31165 on 24.06.2020, is related to the on-site inspection authority of the Board. Under this amendment, it has been regulated that the Authority's experts can examine the records, physical and electronic data, and documents of the enterprise or associations of undertakings, and can take copies and physical samples of them, and the practical application of the Authority which existed before the regulation has been put on a legal basis.
