Duyurular

Turkish Competition Authority concludes the labor market investigation into undertakings predominantly operating in the pharmaceutical sector

With the Turkish Competition Board (“Board”) decision dated 11 September 2025 and numbered 25-34/810-474 (“Decision”), the investigation conducted against certain undertakings—most of which operate in the pharmaceutical sector—on the grounds of an infringement of Article 4 of Law No. 4054 through participation in employee no-poach agreements and/or the exchange of competitively sensitive information has been concluded.

The Decision may be summarized as follows:

  • It was stated that no-poach agreements are direct or indirect arrangements between undertakings that compete for labor not to recruit employees from each other.
  • It has been stated that non-solicitation agreements can be structured in different forms and scopes; such agreements should be evaluated as having a restrictive effect on competition under Article 4 of Law No. 4054.
  • It was found that in competition law, information exchange can manifest as the unilateral or mutual sharing of competitively sensitive information that affects or has the potential to affect the strategic behavior and commercial decisions of competitors; and that the exchange of information regarding future employee wages and benefits constituted an infringement within this scope.
  • As a result of the investigation, it was concluded that some undertakings engaged in concerted practices and/or agreements concerning no-poaching, while other undertakings exchanged competitively sensitive information on future employee wages and benefits.
  • In this context, it was decided to impose administrative fines totaling 244,801,302.91 TL on the undertakings found to have participated in the infringement.

You can access the full text of the decision here.

 

Kind regards,

Zumbul Attorneys-at-Law

info@zumbul.av.tr


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