Türkiye as an infrastructure pivot?

Between the 2 nd century BC and the 15 th century, the Silk Road, ending in Istanbul, was the main traditional route between China and the Middle East. Europe has developed since the Renaissance and Istanbul (then Constantinople) and Türkiye have evolved into an ever more important trading and commercial hub between the East and the West up to today. Since the turn of the century, the Turkish government has massively invested in Türkiye’s transport and energy infrastructure, to the point that the country is ideally positioned to play a globally unique role as a transport and increasingly an energy hub. Moreover, because of the war in Ukraine and conflict in the Middle East, along with a new geopolitical situation pitching the ‘West against the rest,’ this process has been accelerated and put Türkiye in the position of an infrastructure pivot between the East and the West. From being the terminus of the Silk Road, Türkiye is now at its core again.

In this issue of Network Industries Quarterly, we present and discuss the gradual ascent of Türkiye to become a global or at least a regional ‘infrastructure pivot,’ as we call it. The three articles that make up this issue illustrate the pivotal role of Türkiye in aviation – both through its national flag carrier, Turkish Airlines, and even more so through its newly built Istanbul airport – in gas and railways. These sectors are in different stages of development, with aviation clearly being the most advanced infrastructure pivot, while the potential of railways as a regional infrastructure pivot still needs to be realised. In this introductory article, we briefly highlight and discuss the four main factors that have been contributing and continue to contribute to this evolution.

Muzaffer Eroglu

Matthias Finger

ATM Financing

Air Traffic Management (ATM) is a set of services which every state must provide for the safe and efficient operation of air traffic. Today, it is almost entirely financed by user fees according to the ‘user pays’ principle. Until today, the ‘user’ has always been assumed to be the airspace user, normally an airline. This system is now coming under pressure. The current Single European Sky (SES) regulation is built on the assumption that air traffic in Europe continually increases. Therefore, the financing of ATM is secured by increasing revenue due to higher traffic volumes. Technological progress and efficiency gains should lead to a reduced cost and a lower environmental footprint of aviation while increasing safety and capacity. Two crises – the financial and banking crisis of 2008 and more recently the COVID-19 pandemic – show that the assumptions behind this regulatory framework are wrong. Additionally, there is the question of who the actual ‘users’ are. Does ATM only serve paying airlines or are there some services which are provided in the public interest? This issue of Network Industries Quarterly explores this last question by way of three original contributions.

The first contribution by Matthias Finger, from the European University Institute, discusses possible arguments that could be used when defining ATM in the public interest, notably when comparing ATM with rail and electricity infrastructure.

In the second contribution, Alex Bristol, Myriam Käser and Marita Lintener, from Skyguide, observe the ‘dual soul’ of Air Navigation Service Providers, providing both services to commercial airlines while simultaneously responding to domestic (national) objectives. Consequently, they explore core services of general interest (CSGI) as an option for financing portions of ATM activities.

In the third contribution, Kalman Seregelyes, from Hungarocontrol, asks whether the current EU performance scheme for air navigation services is still fit for purpose and argues in favour of a new traffic risk sharing scheme which could be better suited for traffic fluctuations such as were experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic.

                                                                                                                                    Matthias Finger

Publication Director

Mobility Data Spaces

Transforming Europe into a climate neutral economy by 2050 in line with the European Green Deal places a particular responsibility on the transport sector, which accounts for a quarter of the Union’s total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Specifically, transport will have to collectively reduce its GHG emissions by 90% by mid-century compared to 1990 levels. This will require advancing digitalisation and the use of data in all modes of transport, including passenger and freight segments. Notwithstanding, data availability, access and exchange in the transport sector today continue to be hampered due to unclear regulatory conditions, the lack of an EU market for data provision, the absence of an obligation to collect and share data, incompatible tools and systems for data collection and sharing, different standards, or data sovereignty concerns, among others.

The European strategy for data aims to establish a single market for data where data can be accessed and used efficiently. This will include the creation of a common European mobility data space to facilitate access, pooling, and sharing of transport and mobility data. In this special issue of the Network Industries Quarterly, invited authors critically discuss the opportunities and challenges of building such a mobility data space.

The first contribution by Almasy and de Linde discusses the transformative potential of common European data spaces, and highlights the benefits and challenges involved in implementing them, with a focus on the mobility and transport sector.

The second contribution by Bücking, Drees, Gavaud, Gruber, Hoffmann, Thelisson and van Veenendaal tries to define possible roles of National Access Points in the European Mobility Data Space.

Valkokari explores three layers of data sharing in the context of urban mobility by means of an illustrative case study.

Antoniola analyses Mobility Data Spaces from different angles (EU, national and local) with a focus on the role of local governments.

                                                                                                                                    Matthias Finger

Publication Director

Regulating Digitalization in Türkiye

The Law No. 6563 on the Regulation of Electronic Commerce (the “E-commerce Law”) of Türkiye has been considered inefficient to address the problems created in the face of rapidly changing technology and digitalization. It was amended with the Law on the Regulation of Electronic Commerce Amendment Law (the “Amending Law”) adopted by the Turkish Parliament on 1 July 2022. Influenced by the European Union’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) and the Digital Services Act, the Amending Law was published in the Official Gazette on 7 July 2022 and was entered into force on 1 January 2023.

The new Law aims to protect the competitive environment, prohibit unfair commercial practices and monopolization, and ensure a healthy growth of the e-commerce sector in Türkiye. Yet, it brings radical changes to the previous legislation. The operations of sector players will be significantly affected by the new definitions and by the new obligations and restrictions that were introduced and imposed in the Amending Law.

Separately, the Draft Digital Markets Bill to amend the Law on Protection of Competition (the “Competition Law”) was published in October 2022. Amendments that come with the Draft Bill aim to regulate and protect the fair and competitive environment in the digital markets while ensuring further compliance with the EU legislation.

This special issue of the Network Industries Quarterly features five short articles which mainly explore the potential effects of the changes in the E-commerce Law and the Competition Law. This issue also presents an analysis on the recent developments and challenges in the regulation of data privacy in Türkiye.

The first contribution by Ekingen aims to explain how the amendments to the regulation of e-commerce have affected online multi-sided platforms and their current position in digital markets in Türkiye.

Ikiler and Yüksel compare the Proposed Amendment with the DMA and the German Competition Act to identify procedural, substantive and fundamental differences between those legislations and also discuss whether and for which circumstances there would be a need for the Proposed Amendment despite the E-Commerce Law.

Arslan and Tanoğlu also compare the Amendment Law with EU regulations. Given the fact that the market in Türkiye is still growing, the authors discuss whether these regulations risk over-regulating the market.

Girgin, Horozoğlu, and Çal examine the effect of the E-commerce Law and Draft Digital Markets Bill on Competition Law on e-commerce platforms and market competition.

Ersoy focuses on the regulation of data privacy in Türkiye. Ersoy examines recent developments and challenges, and by taking previous experiences in the field of data protection law in Türkiye, the author provides reflections for the future.

Deniz Ece Dalgic, PhD
Manager, Istanbul Center for Regulation