In 2020, the Competition Board launched a fully fledged investigation(1) into Türk Philips A.Ş (Philips Turkey) regarding allegations of abuse of dominance through denying or delaying access to codes and activation tools required for the maintenance and repair of medical imaging devices. Allegations of refusal to grant access to codes and activation tools have frequently been tested in many cases in Turkey, with the Philips Turkey investigation proving to be an important case for competition law enforcement. Following a lengthy 17-month investigation process, the Board closed the case having found no violation(2) and therefore decided not to punish Philips Turkey with an administrative fine.
The consequences of the investigation, however, extended beyond Philips as the Board decided to send out opinion letters to all paticipants in the national medical imaging and diagnosis devices market. The letters included a set of measures to be adopted when providing customers with access to maintenance and repair services. The decision reads that failure to comply with these measures will result in the Board carrying out certain enforcement actions.
To that end, despite having found no violation, the decision is expected to set a landmark precedent for the Board's approach on the use of password mechanisms and access provision of the device manufacturers operating in the medical imaging and diagnostic devices market.
The Competition Board's decision to not impose an administrative fine on Philips Turkey is a positive development that will serve as guidance for companies in a much-debated area of competition law enforcement in the medical imaging and diagnostic devices market. The Turkish Competition Authority has proven that it can engage in liberalisation projects without violating the existing legal status of industry participants.
For further information on this topic please contact Gönenç Gürkaynak at ELIG Gürkaynak Attorneys-at-Law by telephone (+90 212 327 17 24) or email ([email protected]). The ELIG Gürkaynak Attorneys-at-Law website can be accessed at www.elig.com.
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