Competition Board hears oral defense from Nestle Turkey

The Competition Board has heard the oral defense of Nestle Türkiye Gıda Sanayi AŞ as part of an ongoing investigation.

The meeting was held at the Authority's headquarters under the chairmanship of Competition Authority President Birol Küle.

During the meeting, Küle recalled that the investigation was launched to determine whether the company in question violated the Law on the Protection of Competition by setting resale prices for its distributors and imposing regional and customer restrictions on them.

The representative of the investigation committee stated that, following an evaluation of the findings within the framework of the relevant legislation, the company had violated the Law for the aforementioned reasons and that an administrative fine should therefore be imposed on the enterprise.

COMPANY REPRESENTATIVES PRESENTED THEIR DEFENSE

The representative of Nestle Türkiye Gıda Sanayi AŞ stated that the company has products in many categories and that the investigation concerns the out-of-home consumption products category.

The enterprise representative explained that these products provide food and beverages to places such as hospitals, prisons, and hotels, and therefore are not sold directly to the end consumer.

FINAL DECISION TO BE ANNOUNCED WITHIN 15 DAYS

The representative pointed out that the investigation report included the company's market shares for the products and that these shares related to retail, noting that while their evidence concerned out-of-home products, the assessment was made by taking into account the shares in the retail market.

The Board will announce its final decision regarding the investigation within 15 days.

If the decision is reached earlier, it will be announced on the Competition Authority's website.

News Source: AA