Turkey’s competition regulator has imposed fines on several pharmaceutical companies for participating in a no-poach agreement and/or exchanging competitive information on employee wages and benefits.
Following an in-depth investigation, which concluded on 17 October 2025, the Turkish watchdog handed out fines of over TL 244.8m ($5.83 million) in total. The Turkish arms of AstraZeneca, Novartis, Merck, Pfizer and Sanofi were among the entities penalised.
The regulator found that 10 undertakings in the pharmaceutical sector had engaged in a no-poach agreement which harmed competition in Turkey. No-poach agreements are arrangements between two or more employers in which they agree not to hire or solicit each other’s employees. Such agreements harm competition by restricting employee mobility, thereby preventing employees from leveraging competing job offers to improve their pay and working conditions.
The watchdog also found that some pharmaceutical companies had infringed competition law by sharing competitively sensitive information on future employee wages and benefits. Information sharing of this nature is prohibited in many countries as it affects companies’ independent decision making and can lead to a stagnation of wages and benefits.
This decision from the Turkish regulator is the latest in a string of enforcement decisions in the UK and Europe which address competition breaches in labour markets. For more insights on this topic, we invite you to read Stephenson Harwood’s detailed article: Fair play and fair pay: The CMA issues first ever infringement decision relating to anticompetitive collusion in labour markets; available here.
Enforcement action against companies entering into no-poach agreements, wage-fixing and sharing of commercially sensitive information are among the top priorities for competition regulators globally. Businesses need to ensure they are alert to the risks and are updating internal policies and training HR teams, directors/managers and other staff to ensure compliance.
Stephenson Harwood can provide bespoke competition law compliance programmes and training to equip your staff with the knowledge and skills they need to help identify and avoid anti-competitive conduct.
If you would like to discuss any of the topics addressed in this article, or if you are interested in our competition law compliance training, please get in touch with the Stephenson Harwood team below.
The same Stephenson Harwood team recently published an article here in relation to employers competing for talent. The article goes into much detail about what organisations need to do to avoid breaking competition law. The Guidance is aimed at those who work in human resources or are involved in the recruitment and retention of workers.
