The Motor Vehicles Sector Block Exemption Regulation in Turkey

The New Block Exemption Communiqué No. 2017/3 for Vertical Agreements in the Motor Vehicle Sector (Communiqué No. 2017/3) in Turkey was published in the Official Gazette on February 24, 2017. The Turkish Competition Authority also published the Guidelines on the Block Exemption in the Motor Vehicles Sector which aims to provide certainty in the interpretation of Communiqué No. 2017/3, as well as to clarify matters that the Board would take into consideration in terms of the application of Communiqué No. 2017/3. Communiqué No. 2017/3, revoked the previously applicable Communiqué No. 2005/4, and it currently stands as the relevant block exemption regulation for the motor vehicle sector.

Overall, Communiqué No. 2017/3 is applied to vertical agreements concerning the (i) purchase, sale or resale of new motor vehicles; (ii) purchase, sale or resale of spare parts of motor vehicles; and (iii) provision of maintenance and repair services for motor vehicles. Vertical agreements concerning the distribution of this nature are only considered to fall under the scope of the communiqué where it is generally accepted that the products may be applied in or on to a motor vehicle, if the buyer is operating in the sector for maintaining and repairing motor vehicles or if it is providing goods for that sector.

For vertical agreements covered by Communiqué No. 2017/3 to benefit from the exemption, the parties should not exceed certain market share thresholds in the relevant market depending on the nature of their distribution system and comply with the notice of termination periods specified in the communiqué. The market share thresholds that are applied in order to determine whether an agreement would benefit from the block exemption have been harmonised under the communiqué for the quantitative distribution agreements and the exclusive distribution agreements. In Communiqué No. 2017/3, the market share threshold provided for the quantitative selective distribution has been reduced from 40% to 30%. Communiqué No. 2017/3 does not provide a market share threshold for application of the block exemption to the qualitative selective distribution systems.

For more information on the motor vehicles sector block exemption regulation in Turkey, please feel free to reach out to ELIG Gurkaynak at +90 212 327 1724 or through gonenc.gurkaynak@elig.com.