DEVELOPMENT OF THE IMPLEMENTING CONDITIONS OF ESSENTIAL FACILITIES DOCTRINE IN EUROPEAN UNION COMPETITION LAW: CASE ANALYSIS

Year 2019, Volume: 2 Issue: 2, 88 - 121, 31.12.2019

İpek Cimen Bulut

Abstract

Under the principle of contractual freedom, whether in
a dominant position or not, all the undertakings shall have the freedom of not
to deal or the freedom of to determine the other party, scope, content,
duration and other similar terms of the agreement. On the other hand, in order
to protect free and fair competition, the actions of the dominant undertakings
in the relevant market are supervised within the framework of the competition
rules. 

As a result of this control, in some exceptional cases
and under the prohibition of abuse of right, the undertaking in the dominant
position could be obliged to make a deal about the concrete case. The other
exceptional limitation, for the dominant undertakings in the context of
competition rules, could be done under the essential facilities doctrine, which
is another output of the prohibition of abuse of rights. The difference between
the obligation to make a deal and essential facilities doctrine, that itself
also is a type of obligation to make a deal, is that the doctrine could limit
the right of property exceptionally in accordance with the principle of
proportionality and without giving any harm to the essence of the right.

In
this study, by examining the related decisions of the European Court of Justice
and Commission, it has been tried to explain, under which exceptional
conditions the principle of freedom to deal could be limited by the essential
facilities doctrine in terms of dominant undertakings and the development of
implementing conditions of essential facilities doctrine.

Keywords

Freedom to deal, dominant position, obligation to make a deal, essential facilities doctrine, European Union, Union law, implementing conditions, essential facilities, compulsory licensing, competition law

ZORUNLU UNSUR DOKTRİNİNİN UYGULAMA KOŞULLARININ AVRUPA BİRLİĞİ REKABET HUKUKUNDA GELİŞİMİ: VAKA ANALİZLERİ

Abstract

Hakim
durumda olsun olmasın, her teşebbüs anlaşma yapma özgürlüğü ilkesi çerçevesinde
anlaşma yapmama veya yapacağı anlaşmanın karşı tarafını, kapsam ve içeriğini,
süresini ve benzeri koşullarını serbestçe belirleme özgürlüğüne sahiptir. Buna
karşılık, serbest ve adil rekabetin korunması amacıyla hakim durumdaki
teşebbüslerin ilgili pazardaki hareketleri, rekabet kuralları çerçevesinde
denetlenmektedir. Bu denetim neticesinde, kimi istisnai hallerde ve hakkın
kötüye kullanılması yasağı kapsamında hakim durumdaki teşebbüse somut olayda
anlaşma yapma yükümlülüğü getirilebilmektedir. Hakkın kötüye kullanılması
yasağının başka bir çıktısı olarak hakim durumdaki teşebbüslere rekabet
kuralları bağlamında getirilebilen diğer istisnai nitelikteki sınırlandırma da
zorunlu unsur doktrini çerçevesinde yapılır. Anlaşma yapma yükümlülüğünün bir
çeşidi olan zorunlu unsur doktrininin anlaşma yapma yükümlülüğünden farkı, işbu
doktrinin mutlak bir hak olan mülkiyet hakkına da dokunarak istisnai hallerde
–hakkın özüne dokunulmaması ve orantılılık ilkeleri doğrultusunda- mülkiyet
hakkını sınırlandırabilmesidir.

Bu
çalışmada, anlaşma yapma özgürlüğü genel ilkesinin, hakim durumdaki teşebbüsler
bakımından zorunlu unsur doktrini uygulanarak, hangi istisnai koşullar altında
sınırlandırılabileceği ve zorunlu unsur doktrininin uygulama koşullarının
gelişimi, Avrupa Birliği Adalet Divanı ve Komisyonun önüne gelen çeşitli
vakalara ilişkin kararların incelenmesi neticesinde anlatılmaya çalışılmıştır.

Keywords

Anlaşma yapma özgürlüğü, hakim durum, anlaşma yapma yükümlülüğü, zorunlu unsur doktrini, esaslı unsur, rekabet hukuku, Avrupa Birliği, Birlik hukuku, uygulama koşulları, zorunlu unsur, zorunlu lisanslama

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