Belgium’s Competition Authority has adopted new guidelines for the calculation of fines in antitrust cases to bring it in line with the European Commission’s standards. The guidelines will become effective as of 1 November 2014. As a result, companies will be sanctioned using the EU methodology regardless of whether the investigation was conducted by the European Commission or the Belgian competition Authority. Competition law infringements in Belgium as of 1 November will be

Russian oil producer Tatneft had been awarded $112 million, the decision is base on the compensation, the arbitral decision against Ukraine over a refinery ownership of Ukraine's Kremenchug oil refinery (Ukrtatnafta) increases the pressure on Kiev, which is fighting a pro-Russian insurgency in the east of the country, a conflict that is damaging the Ukrainian economy. #arbitration

A Turkish power ship held by the Pakistani government for 25 months was released this month as a decision by ICSID’s arbitration panel, the mentioned ship is just one of the four power-generating ships held since July 2012 by the Pakistani government. Background of the case ICSID case: - Karkey Karadeniz Elektrik Uretim A.S. v. Islamic Republic of Pakistan In March 2013, Karkey Karadeniz Elektrik Uretim A.S., established a power plant in a ship berthed at Karachi port to prov

Turkmenistan adopted a law on international commercial arbitration, which will come into force on 1 January 2016. The law regulates the relations connected with the establishment and operation of international commercial arbitration. Business of at least one of the parties is outside of Turkmenistan Disputes of foreign companies with foreign investments and disputes of international associations and organizations established on the territory of Turkmenistan. Disputes between

Arbitration Award decides against Iran, in an arbitration dispute over the purchase price of natural gas. Iran will have to pay $760 million to the BOTAŞ (Turkish Oil Pipelines Corporation), and also might reduce the unit price for gas it sells to Turkey. Earlier the decision be rendered the Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yıldız had announced that Turkey would be willing to buy more Iranian gas in case that Iranian gas were exported by lower prices Background of the case The

EMRA (Energy Market Regulatory Authority in Turkey) has made certain amendments on the auditing principles of the companies operating in electricity market with “Regulation on Amendments on Procedures and Principles to be Applied to Auditing, Preliminary Survey and Investigation of Companies That Operate in Electricity Market” (Regulation), came into force with Official Gazette numbered 29104, dated 30.08.2014. According to the most important reform introduced with this Regul

KILIC & Partners’ International legal counsels – Dr. Hanna Stakheyeva, LLM, and Gulnur Kaplan, LLM - took part in the first WTO Regional Trade Policy Course Round Table on Trade Remedies organized by Istanbul Bilgi University Faculty of Law in cooperation with the WTO and the Turkish Ministry of Economy. The event welcomed trade policy makers, regulatory agencies and practitioners that have relation to international trade and trade remedies, including Hiromi Yano (Counsellor,

The European Commission’s formal opinion dated 5.05.2014 in application of Article 15(1) of Regulation (EC) 1/2003 (“Formal opinion”), provides some guidance for the private parties and for the national courts on the access to information/documents gathered during the European Commission’s antitrust investigation. Disclosure of such information/documents is a controversial issue in any action for damages. Legal framework Article 15(1) of Regulation No 1/2003 provides that in

Competition Commission of Switzerland (“Comco”) in end of July 2014 imposed a fine of Euro 1.5 million on a Swiss news agency Schweizerische Depeschenagentur (“SDA”) after a two-year investigation of its exclusivity agreements. Nature of offence SDA is a dominant undertaking in the Swiss marker for news agency. It was held to breach the Swiss competition law by granting illegal exclusive rebates for its news subscriptions to certain customers on condition that such media comp