The legality of liability for damages arising from the Competition Law infringements

Right to compensation for those who suffer from competition breaches constitutes one of the private enforcement of competition law in the Act No. 4054 on the Protection of Competition which is the main basis of Turkish competition law. The liability of compensation arising from the competition law infringements in action for damages is generally considered as tort liability. However, some competition infringements have a contractual relationship established between the parties. Moreover, in some cases, although the parties have come together to form a contract, no contract has been established due to the unlawful conduct of the party that has committed the infringement. In case of a relation between competition violation and the contract between the parties, in addition to the tort liability, the contractual liability of the party performing the breach may be on the agenda. Besides, if the parties have come together to form a contract but have not been established due to the unlawful conduct of the infringing party, the contracting party may be responsible for the contract negotiations (culpa in contrahendo). Because of the type of responsibility to be accepted, there will be some differences in terms of the scope, conditions and demand for compensation, the legal character of liability must be examined carefully and if there are many types for liability, it is necessary to apply to the Article 60 of the Turkish Code of Obligations which regulates the contestation of the responsabilities. At this point, it is confronted that the question of which types of responsibility can be found in the violations of competition. Determining the general principles of responsibility types and adapting them to competition law is of great importance in terms of providing correct answers to the question. Key Words: Competition law infringements, actions for damages, the type of liability, the legal character of liability, contractuel liability, tort liability, culpa in contrahendo, contest of responsabilities.