In brief On 28 September 2023, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has issued Federal Law No. 36 of 2023 (the “New Competition Law”), which has repealed and replaced Federal Law No. 4 of 2012. The New Competition Law signals a new era of enforcement by the UAE Ministry of Economy by providing a functional competition regime through, inter alia: extending a wider scope of application to almost all economic activities; expanding its mandate by prohibiting…
On 1 November 2023, the Board of the General Authority for Competition (“Authority”) announced that new financial thresholds would apply to determine whether a transaction is reportable to the Authority. By implementing such change, the aim of the Authority is to provide further clarity on the local nexus test required for a transaction to be notifiable to the Authority and to align the Saudi merger control regime further with international standards. This announcement follows the…
The General Authority for Competition (the “Authority”) recently published its latest annual report regarding its activity in 2021. This report shows that since the introduction of the current Competition Law1 (the “Law”) in Saudi Arabia in September 2019, the Authority has strengthened its resources and taken a number of initiatives to raise awareness about the Law and that it has significantly increased its enforcement against violators. This alert offers an overview of the key initiatives and…