Data Room Practices in Competition Law : Right to Access to File and the Right to Defense in Cartel Cases

In order to fully execute rights of defense, parties within a cartel investigation should be allowed to see the extent of the investigation file in an open and transparent manner, subject to the limit that the confidential information of undertakings must be respected and their confidentiality must be protected. On that note, data room procedure has emerged as an efficient and useful procedural tool within the European Union competition law regime. The data room procedure in the EU is made available to the undertakings in a cartel investigation under definite rules and regulations. However, there is no clear legislation in Turkey on this end. Against this background, this article examines the details of the data room practices in correlation with the rights of defense and the right to access to file and brings about suggestions on how to better the practice in the Turkish jurisdiction, by the utilization of clear-cut secondary legislation and thus creating legal predictability. This way, as Franz Kafka puts it, as the proceedings gradually merge into the judgment, undertakings have a better chance to fend for themselves and the antitrust enforcers will be in a position to protect the interests of every party involved whilst abiding the principle of good administration