The importance of competition law is growing every day in today's free market economy, where the diversity of economic activities is increasing. At Erdem & Erdem we adopt a creative and client focused approach in the competition law field, a field where new concepts emerge each day and which requires quick responses to new technologies and economic developments.

Our team of competition law professionals addresses the varying legal demands of our clients as they confront a variety of competition law issues in a complex economy. We assist our clients with comparative analyses of competition evaluations, antitrust programs, mergers and acquisitions, contract design, and dealership systems, from the perspectives of European Union and Turkish competition legislation. Erdem & Erdem's services in competition law mainly focus on the following areas:

Execution of Processes within the Scope of Competition Investigations

Given that all companies operating in Turkey may face competition investigations at any time, we understand how critical it is to be prepared for such investigations and to be able to obtain the best legal advice at the right time. Our team represents our clients before the Competition Authority at all phases of the inquiry, combining their experience in competition law with their understanding of sectoral legislation in all types of competition investigations. Our firm also participates in all stages of any case brought against the Authority’s decisions.

At Erdem & Erdem, we think that it is crucial and so beneficial to determine the correct legal strategy for investigations that may be based on various allegations such as concerted practice, price fixing, horizontal and vertical agreements including territory and client limitations. Accordingly, the determinant factor occurs as putting forward all the facts of the case in a correct manner, since under competition law the technical analyses are many in number, the foreseeability is difficult and all cases should be assessed in the context of its specific features.

Abuse of Dominance

Companies holding the leading position in the sector that they operate in are defined as “dominant undertakings.” As a result of their market power, dominant undertakings are at the center of the Competition Authority’s’ activities. Erdem & Erdem provides preventive legal consultancy to these clients in regard to possible abuse of dominance concerns. For those companies operating in rapidly changing and highly regulated markets such as banking, energy and telecommunication, competition law risks are especially high.

We place a high value on legal protection for these businesses because we predict that even the smallest action taken by our clients in dominating positions will result in numerous complaints to the competition authorities. For this reason, dominating businesses are compelled to use extreme caution in all of their activities. In order to facilitate this, our competition team aims to be at least as familiar with our customers' company culture and business style as they are with their own.

Mergers and Acquisitions

At Erdem & Erdem, we frequently apply our experience in private law to the competition law aspects of mergers and acquisitions. We believe that the competition law clearance as the last step of a merger and acquisition transaction should the subject to the same level of care given throught a merger and acquisition transaction. Additionally, in recent Competition Board decisions, we frequently encounter with the structuring the establishment and operations of joint ventures, strategic cooperations including reciprocal control, exchange of information risks in regard to the minority right transfers. In this environment, designing a merger and acquisition transaction in compliance with competition law from the beginning can yield many benefits. Primary among these benefits is the possibility of avoiding the inception of an investigation when a transaction is nearly complete – a state of affairs that could significantly reduce the benefit from such a transaction.

Our competition team's key objective is to remove the uncertainties that will have a negative impact on our customers' costs, reputation with financial institutions, and partners before they even occur. In order to achieve this goal, we offer guidance to our customers on competition law from the very beginning of a transaction and work to eliminate their concerns related competition law.

Compliance and Educational Programs in Competition Law

Erdem & Erdem is driven by the fresh perspective provided by our academic studies. In this way, we put our academic expertise to work for our clients by coming up with innovative legal solutions. We keep a careful eye on contemporary concerns in the subject of competition law, where new concepts emerge on a daily basis and which is susceptible to technological and economic changes. Besides, we regularly monitor current judicial decisions and academic disputes in the EU and the United States, which are the sources of primary legislation in terms of Turkish competition law, as well as changes in other countries across the world.

The Erdem & Erdem Competition Compliance Program was developed in accord with the dynamic structure of competition legislation in order to give better service to our clients. Our compliance program, which addresses the particular structure of competition legislation in accordance with the demands of each firm, includes not constraining companies more than necessary, but rather providing a safe haven by removing legal ambiguities as much as feasible. In accordance with this program, our primary goal is to develop a program that is fit for each company's specific needs and that it can internalize. As a result, instead of viewing compliance with competition law as a troublesome and necessary field, our clients can view it as a business policy.