Since Kuwait enacted Law 72/2020, the Competition Protection Authority has significantly increased merger control and antitrust enforcement, though guidelines are still pending.
Since the Kuwaiti legislator overhauled the Emirate’s competition law with Law 72/2020 on the Protection of Competition (Competition Law) effective late 2021, the Kuwaiti Competition Protection Authority (CPA) has substantially increased its enforcement of the merger control and antitrust regimes. Still, guidelines are outstanding. Also, in their decisions on merger clearance and behavioral antitrust matters the CPA continues to provide no or rudimentary details on their findings and reasoning. Hence, key principles and concepts of the Kuwaiti merger control and antitrust regimes remain unclear and questions on scope of application and interpretation remain unresolved. Furthermore, the Kuwaiti Constitutional Court issued two rulings in 2025 that limited the CPS’ ability to impose sanctions for behavioral
