The Turkish competition body issued on Tuesday a fine of about TL 282 million (around $6.65 million) on soft beverages giant Coca-Cola for obstructing an on-site inspection.
In a written statement, the Competition Authority (RK) said it imposed an administrative fine of TL 282.4 million or 0.5% of the company's gross reserves in 2024 after it detected that certain data was deleted following the start of the on-site inspection.
"The power to conduct on-site inspections is one of the leading tools used in detecting whether the Act no 4054 on the Protection of Competition (Act no 4054) was violated. The productive use of this power is of utmost importance in establishing effective competition," RK said.
It recalled that within the scope of on-site inspection, experts can examine an enterprise's books as well as all types of data and documents they keep on physical or electronic media and in information systems, take copies and physical samples and request written or oral statements from employees of the undertakings on certain issues.
Employees are obliged to provide copies of information, documents, books and other instruments when requested, it added. "From the moment the on-site inspection begins, employees must not, under any circumstances, delete any data from any device that they use containing electronic data, such as mobile phones or computers. Otherwise, this can be easily detected by the RK experts and undertakings may face administrative fines up to 0.5% of their turnover within the scope of prevention and/or obstruction of on-site inspections," it explained.
Moreover, it suggested that during the inspection conducted at Coca-Cola Satış ve Dağıtım A.Ş. on Oct. 7, authority experts detected that a manager erased data after the beginning of the on-site inspection, and as a result, Coca-Cola was fined with the decision taken on Nov. 20, which ruled that "the on-site inspection was prevented and/or obstructed."
