TURKISH COMPETITION AUTHORITY – GUIDELINES ON COMPETITION LAW VIOLATIONS IN LABOR MARKETS PUBLISHED
10/12/2024
Turkish Competition Authority published the “Guidelines on Competition Violations in Labor Markets” (“the Guidelines”) adopted by its decision dated 21.11.2024 and numbered 24-49/1087- RM (4). In the Guidelines, the types of competition infringements in labor markets are firstly addressed within the scope of Article 4 of Act No. 4054 on the Protection of Competition under the headings of (i) employee non-solicitation agreements, (ii) wage-fixing agreements and (iii) information exchange, and then evaluations are presented in terms of ancillary restraints and other articles of the Act. The Guidelines outline the following principles:
- Non-poaching agreements are evaluated within the same framework as provider/customer sharing agreements. Non-poaching agreements that constitute an infringement in terms of purpose are considered cartels.
- Wage-fixing agreements are evaluated within the same framework as price-fixing agreements that occur on the output side of the market. In this context, wage-fixing agreements that constitute a violation in terms of purpose are considered cartels.
- Competitively sensitive information generally includes information on wages (employee salaries) or other working conditions (e.g., fringe benefits and working hours) that can have a significant impact on employees' job choices or overall labor mobility.
- It is stated that information exchange may occur directly between undertakings or through intermediaries and third-party channels such as platforms and market research companies. In this context, it is also stated that the sharing between undertakings of information that is not aggregated, current and/or forward-looking, that makes it possible to understand the data source or the content of the data individually and that is not publicly available may restrict competition.
- For the exchange of information not to have anti-competitive effects, it should meet the following conditions:
- The exchange of information should be conducted by an independent third party,
- It should not be possible to understand the data source or individual data content,
- The information subject to the exchange of information must be at least three months outdated,
- The information must include data from at least ten participants,
- No participant's data should weigh more than 25% of the total data.
- It is stated that wage-fixing and non-poaching agreements, as well as information exchanges aimed at restricting competition, cannot benefit from exemption as a general rule.
- Restrictions that are found to be ancillary restrictions will not be evaluated within the scope of Article 4 of the Act; on the other hand, restrictions regarding non-poaching and wage fixing, which are not found to be ancillary restrictions, will be considered as a violation based on their purpose.
- In the assessments regarding abuse of dominant position, it is assessed whether the undertaking subject to review has a dominant position in both the relevant product or service market and the relevant labor market.
- Finally, it is stated that whether merger and acquisition transactions reduce competition in the labor market will be evaluated based on various criteria, including whether the relevant transaction involves the possibility of a killer acquisition.
(TCA – 3.12.2024)
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