The Ankara 13th Administrative Court rules for the annulment of the Turkish Competition Authority’s cartel decision due to failure of standard of proof (Kronospan)

The Ankara 13th Administrative Court ('Court') [1] recently annulled with its decision (“Court Decision”) the Turkish Competition Authority's ('TCA') cartel determination [2] (“TCA Decision”) against Kronospan Orman Ürünleri San. ve Tic. A.Ş. (“Kronospan”) in a decision through which it had imposed on 11 undertakings active in the MDF and flakeboard markets an administrative monetary fine for violating Article 4 of Law No. 4054 on the Protection of Competition ('Competition Law'). When the Court closely examined the issue at hand, it concluded that the TCA's judgment did not comply with the law, due to the incorrect assessment that Kronospan, a party to the investigation, had been a member of a cartel. Background of the Case In 2018, the TCA launched an investigation against