The Turkish Competition Authority finds allegations of abuse of dominance against an automobile services company groundless and does not initiate a full-fledged investigation (Samuklar / Brisa)

On February 13, 2020, the Turkish Competition Board (“Board”) initiated a preliminary investigation upon the complaints received from Samuklar Motorlu Araçlar Madencilik İnş. San. ve Tic. Ltd. Şti.’s (“Samuklar”), which previously worked as the dealer of Brisa Bridgestone Sabancı Lastik San. ve Tic. A.Ş. (“Brisa”) in Bursa, Turkey, until 2017. Samuklar’s complaints included several issues that might have raised competition law concerns, however, the Board concluded as a result of a preliminary investigation that Brisa did not violate the Law No. 4054 on the Protection of Competition (“Law No. 4054”). [1] Background Samuklar’s complaint included many allegations which were not all related to competition law (such as disputes over debts). The Board reviewed the complaint and additional