The Turkish High State Court upholds the Competition Authority’s non-fining decision by implementing the non bis in idem principle (Mey İçki / Antalya Alkollü / Efe Alkollü)

Introduction In April 2016, the Turkish Competition Board (the “Board”) launched an investigation against Mey İçki San. ve Tic. A.Ş. (“Mey İçki”), a subsidiary of Diageo plc. The investigation aimed to explore the validity of the allegations regarding Mey İçkis abuse of dominance in the Turkish markets for vodka and gin. After eighteen months of investigation, the Board found that (i) Mey İçki holds the dominant position in vodka and gin markets, (ii) Mey İçki has violated Article 6 of Law No. 4054 on Protection of Competition (“Law No.4054”) in the vodka and gin markets, and (iii) as Mey İçki has already received an administrative monetary fine for the consequences of the same strategy in the rakı (traditional Turkish spirit) market, there is no room for another administrative monetary