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The Turkish Competition Board (Rekabet Kurulu), the decision-making body of the Turkish Competition Authority (Rekabet Kurumu), has published its reasoned decision no. 25-32/756-448 of 28 August 2025. The Board fined a ready-mixed concrete producer 0.5% of its 2024 annual gross revenue because an employee cleared WhatsApp chats during an on-site inspection. The decision confirms that deleting data after an inspection has begun is sufficient for a fine, even where the phone belongs to the employee personally.
What changed
By decision no. 25-26/630-M of 17 July 2025, the Board opened a preliminary investigation, which is the initial inquiry stage under Article 40(1) of Law No. 4054 on the Protection of Competition (the Competition Law). The inquiry concerns whether ready-mixed concrete producers in Siirt province agreed on sales prices and supply quantities in breach of Article 4 of the Competition Law.
On 22 July 2025, case handlers arrived at one producer's premises at 10:03 for an on-site inspection, commonly called a dawn raid. They presented their authorisation documents and Authority identity cards. They informed the company of their powers, the applicable fines, the leniency rules and the Board's Guidelines on the Examination of Digital Data in On-site Inspections. The Board adopted those guidelines by decision no. 20-45/617 of 8 October 2020. The case handlers also warned that no data was to be deleted from any employee's computers or mobile devices.
The case handlers later found that the WhatsApp chats on one employee's Android phone were empty. The Board established that the employee used the "Clear chat" function at 10:36 and left a WhatsApp group named "Siirt Beton" at 10:37. Evidence gathered at a simultaneous on-site inspection at another undertaking confirmed the time of the group exit.
The Board applied Article 16(1)(d) of the Competition Law, which lists the obstruction or hindering of an on-site inspection as grounds for an administrative fine. Under that provision, the fine is 0.5% of the annual gross revenue for the financial year ending closest to the decision date. The Board based the fine on the company's 2024 gross revenue. The amount is redacted in the published version, and the decision was unanimous.
Who is affected
Companies operating in Türkiye, including subsidiaries of foreign groups, are affected most directly. The fine falls on the undertaking, and Article 16 also reaches natural persons that qualify as undertakings and associations of undertakings or their members. Foreign groups are affected indirectly, since the fine is calculated on the gross revenue of the inspected Turkish entity.
Employees and managers who use personal phones for business messaging are affected as individuals. Their conduct during an inspection is attributed to the company and determines whether the company is fined. The Board noted that the phones were personal but that the chat groups concerned company business.
The decision also touches internal functions. Legal and compliance teams set the rules for conduct during inspections. HR teams draw up the device and messaging rules that bind staff, which engages Turkish labour law where personal devices are involved.
What this means in practice
- The relevant moment is the case handlers' entry to the premises. Here entry occurred at 10:03, and a deletion 33 minutes later was enough for the Board to find obstruction.
- Leaving a messaging group after the inspection begins carries the same consequence as deleting messages. The Board characterised both acts as concealment of evidence.
- The absence of authorised representatives does not suspend the duty to preserve data. The case handlers warned the office employee present against deletion, and the deletion took place before the facility manager arrived after 10:40.
- Personal ownership of a phone is not determinative where the chats relate to company business. Bring-your-own-device arrangements therefore fall within the reach of an inspection.
- The Board is not required to establish what the deleted data contained or whether it was recovered. Its decision cites six earlier decisions from 2021 to 2025 applying this approach, which the Council of State (Danıştay), Türkiye's highest administrative court, has repeatedly upheld.
- The rapporteurs had described the conduct as providing misleading information. The Board's operative finding nonetheless rests on obstruction and hindering under Article 16(1)(d).
The wider sanctions under Turkish competition law apply separately to any substantive infringement found in the underlying preliminary investigation.
Frequently asked questions
Can a company refuse or delay an on-site inspection in Türkiye?
Article 15 of the Competition Law obliges the persons concerned to provide copies of the information, documents and books requested. Where an inspection is obstructed or is likely to be obstructed, it is carried out on the order of a criminal judgeship of peace (sulh ceza hakimi), a first-instance criminal judge. Refusal therefore does not prevent the inspection and exposes the company to the Article 16 fine.
Can the fine be challenged?
The decision is open to judicial review before the Ankara Administrative Courts. The time limit is 60 days from notification of the reasoned decision. The Board relies on case law that the Council of State has upheld on several occasions, so a challenge confined to the content of the deleted data faces settled authority.
What should companies operating in Türkiye do about this?
The steps that fall to these companies follow from the facts of the decision. Inspection protocols commonly instruct staff that no message, chat or group membership on any business or personal device may be altered once case handlers arrive. Reception and office staff are typically trained to contact the legal team immediately. Companies also review their Turkish competition law compliance programmes so that messaging rules expressly cover personal phones used for work.
Source: Turkish Competition Board, reasoned decision no. 25-32/756-448 of 28 August 2025 — https://www.rekabet.gov.tr/Karar?kararId=516a4d9a-9e31-4d9c-b908-a3fe154a9da7 (4 November 2026)
This article is for general information purposes only and does not constitute legal advice.