by Ekrem Duman | Aug 26, 2026 | Competition & Antitrust, Vertical Agreements
⚡ TL;DRGenuine agency agreements fall outside the cartel prohibition entirely: the agent is treated as part of the principal’s undertaking, so the principal may set prices, customers and terms. The test is risk — if the agent bears no significant commercial or...
by Ekrem Duman | Aug 26, 2026 | Competition & Antitrust, Vertical Agreements
⚡ TL;DRSuppliers may shape how their products are sold online but may not prevent effective use of the internet. Outright online-sales bans and blocking price-comparison sites are hardcore; marketplace bans are lawful inside a properly constituted selective system...
by Ekrem Duman | Aug 26, 2026 | Competition & Antitrust, Vertical Agreements
⚡ TL;DRSelective distribution — supplying only dealers meeting defined criteria — is lawful without any market-share limit where the product justifies it, criteria are qualitative, objective and applied uniformly, and they go no further than necessary (Metro...
by Ekrem Duman | Aug 26, 2026 | Competition & Antitrust, Vertical Agreements
⚡ TL;DRThe EU’s Vertical Block Exemption Regulation (VBER 2022/720, in force to 2034) exempts supplier-distributor agreements where both parties’ market shares are at or below 30% — provided the agreement contains no hardcore restrictions: resale price...
by Ekrem Duman | Aug 26, 2026 | Competition & Antitrust, Vertical Agreements
⚡ TL;DRResale price maintenance — a supplier fixing or imposing minimum resale prices on its distributors — is the most heavily enforced vertical restraint in the world. It is a hardcore restriction in the EU and Türkiye (no block exemption, fines regardless of market...
