Administrative fines in the scope of "Law on the Protection of Competition"

The economic order is inherently an arena of competition, and in modern democracies, the state prevents the tendency of enterprises operating in the goods and services markets to abuse their power for profit by envisioning the rules of law regarding competition, prevents competition between competitors from turning into a war of destruction and ensures that the game is played in accordance with the rules. The decisive nature of the rule of law is the sanctioning of unruly behavior. Because sanctions are the main means of ensuring that the law is acted in accordance with the law. The law no. 4054 on the protection of competition, which forms the basis of Turkish competition law, can only be achieved with the existence of a fair and proportionate sanctions system that is a deterrent to establishing and maintaining a competitive environment in the goods and services markets. In order to ensure the effective implementation of the material provisions stipulated in Law No. 4054, a dual sanctions system was adopted within the scope of the Law and special legal character sanctions and public law sanctions were included. Administrative fines, which are public law character sanctions and constitute one of the most effective tools in the implementation of competition policy, are in articles 16 and 17 of the second part of the Law on the Protection of Competition titled "Powers of the Board"; in case of violation of the provisions related to procedure and principle, it is regulated in the form of administrative fines applied periodically or instantaneously. As a result of investigations carried out by the Competition Board, administrative fines imposed on the enterprise or enterprise associations found to have violated the Law and the members of these associations and the managers or employees of the enterprise or enterprise association in the event of certain conditions, which can reach large sums, have an important role in the provision of deterrence. In this study, administrative fines issued in the Law on the Protection of Competition were addressed in the context of the basic principles that it is subject to based on the nature of administrative sanctions it carries, on the basis of the regulations contained in law no. 4054 and secondary legislation and the discussions of unlawfulness arising from these regulations and Competition Board practices, and the relevant Board and judicial decisions were discussed and solutions were tried to be presented in controversial matters. Key Words Competition Law, Administrative Sanctions, Administrative Fines.