Single Sanction for Effects of Single Strategy in Multiple Markets—‘Ne Bis in Idem’ Recognised by the Highest Administrative Court in Turkey

The recent judgments by Turkish administrative courts concerning the Turkish Competition Board’s (‘Board’) decisions as a result of investigations conducted into Mey İçki San. ve Tic. A.Ş’s (‘Mey İçki’), a subsidiary of Diageo plc., business practices in the rakı, vodka and gin markets (‘Mey İçki case’) lead the discussions of the applicability of ne bis in idem principle in competition law. First, the Board applied the ne bis in idem principle based on the element of sameness of Mey İçki’s conducts in the rakı market and vodka and gin markets. Then, the local courts adopted the same approach, but the Regional Administrative Court accepted that two offences based on same conduct/conducts in different markets should be subject to duplicative sanctions. Eventually, the Council of State reversed this decision by focusing on the sameness of the actions concerned and found the Board’s decision to be lawful.