Competition Board announced: Competition has emerged in favor of consumers in the sale of packaged water

Competition Board: A competitive environment in the market in favor of consumers has been created with the study on packaged water sales.

The Competition Board reported that by allowing dealers to freely set their own prices in the sales of packaged water, especially carboys, a more competitive environment in the market in favor of consumers has been created.

The statement said:

“The preliminary investigation conducted by the Competition Board (Board) with the date of 10.08.2023 and numbered 23-37/711-M regarding the claim that some undertakings operating as producers/suppliers in the packaged water sector violated Article 4 of the Law No. 4054 on the Protection of Competition (Law No. 4054) by fixing product prices together has been completed.

With the Board’s decision dated 21.09.2023 and numbered 23-45/850-300, it was decided that there was no need to open an investigation regarding the claim that the prices of packaged water were determined together with the undertakings on which a preliminary investigation was conducted.

However, within the scope of the information, documents and determinations obtained during the preliminary investigation process, with the Board decision dated 21.09.2023 and numbered 23-45/850-Mİ; it was decided to conduct additional work in order to eliminate the competitive concerns that arose within the scope of Article 4 of Law No. 4054 regarding the fact that some undertakings operating as producers/suppliers in the packaged water sector can determine the resale price of their dealers in the orders they direct to their dealers through their mobile applications and call centers.

Within the scope of the additional study, interviews were conducted with packaged water producer/supplier companies and the companies were informed about possible competitive problems that may arise in sales made through mobile order applications, online sales platforms and call lines, in cases where the delivery of products is carried out by dealers as independent companies, and in cases where the resale prices of the products are determined by packaged water producers/suppliers due to the structure of the order systems.

In this context, the ordering system has been designed in a way that allows dealers to freely determine their own prices for orders received from packaged water producer/supplier enterprises via their own brands’ mobile applications, online sales platforms and call lines, and the necessary changes have been completed to eliminate competitive concerns.