The investigation conducted to determine whether Sahibinden Information Technologies Marketing and Trade Inc. (Sahibinden) violated Article 6 of Law No. 4054 by obstructing data portability in real estate and vehicle sales/leasing platform services and by other means, has been concluded.
It has been decided that Sahibinden, by obstructing the data transfer of its corporate members and thereby making it difficult for them to use multiple platforms, applying de facto or contractual exclusivity through this means and through the non-competition obligation introduced in its contracts, impeding the activities of its competitors, and thus violating Article 6 of Law No. 4054 by abusing its dominant position, is subject to an administrative fine.
In the context of the decision, in order to end the violation and ensure effective competition in the market, Sahibinden is required to fulfill the following obligations within a period of 3 (three) months from the date of notification of the reasoned decision and prove it to the Competition Authority:
i. The contract between Sahibinden and corporate members should be revised so as not to include the provisions related to the violation.
ii. Within 2 (two) months from the date of notification of the reasoned decision, Sahibinden should establish a framework that allows corporate members to effectively transfer real estate and vehicle listing data to competing platforms and keep this data up-to-date. This framework should be established without any charge, and Sahibinden should present its compliance measures to the Competition Authority at least one month before the end of the given period.
iii. If corporate members with memberships on competing platforms request the transfer of their real estate and vehicle listing data to the Sahibinden platform and if these platforms accept this request, Sahibinden should establish, without any delay and free of charge, a framework to enable members to transfer and maintain their data. This is to ensure that Sahibinden can effectively respond to requests from competing platforms without interruption.
iv. Sahibinden should provide evidence to the Competition Authority both at the beginning and at the end of the process to verify the implementation of the measures in line with the Board’s decision.
v. For a period of 3 (three) years from the initiation of the first compliance measure, Sahibinden should submit periodic reports to the Competition Authority annually.
This decision aims to rectify the violations identified and foster fair competition in the market.