According to the information obtained by the AA correspondent, the Competition Board started the preparation work for the “Digitalization and Competition Policy Report” at the beginning of this year to determine the policies to be implemented in the digital economy sector in the next period.
In order to strengthen this process, the Board created new job descriptions regarding digital economy issues.
In parallel with the increasing developments in the field of digital economy at global and local levels in recent years, it has become necessary for competition authorities to closely monitor the effects of multilateral platforms and algorithm use on markets and consumers. This brought about the acceleration of work in this field.
Considering the impact of big data and algorithm-based competition violations and the difficulty of detection, it was evaluated that conventional practices would be insufficient to cope with the problems in these areas.
New tasks for the digital economy
In this context, the Competition Board decided on May 7 that this field should be within the scope of duties of the Strategy Development Department, in order to ensure that the institution can act proactively by closely monitoring the potential competition violations and digital economy that may be revealed by the platforms.
The said Presidency will carry out work on the following issues:
To contribute to studies such as mergers and acquisitions, sector reports, investigations and preliminary research on ‘digital economy’ carried out within the Audit and Implementation Departments.
To give opinions to the Board when necessary regarding investigations on “digital economy”.
To provide professional staff support, when necessary, to competition investigations on the digital economy carried out by the audit and enforcement departments.
To carry out training and information activities for professional personnel on digital economy issues.
To share relevant knowledge and experience with international organizations and other competition authorities, taking into account the effects of the digital economy and multilateral platforms beyond national borders.
To carry out training activities at local and international levels to ensure that problems in this field become visible in the markets and can be addressed within the scope of competition violations.
To raise awareness about the effects of digital economy and algorithms on markets and consumers, and to contribute to the development of public policies by decision makers by communicating with relevant ministries, institutions and organizations.
In this context, although the existing sectoral authority and responsibility areas of the Audit and Implementation Departments do not change, the new duties defined regarding the digital economy will be carried out in coordination with the relevant professional department.
Source: https://www.aa.com.tr/tr/ekonomi/rekabet-kurulu-dijital-ekonomiye-odaklandi/1833505
