New Competition Rules On The Way

Last March, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia introduced a new Competition Act, which effectively replaces the previous Act dating back to June 2004. The publication of the implementing regulations is still awaited. These will surely shed more light on the amended Saudi competition rules, however key amendments in the Act provide some insight into the new take on competition rules in Saudi Arabia.

We previously wrote an article explaining the situation prior to the amendments. Let's look into the significant changes in the new Act...

Competition rules become applicable to public institutions and state-owned companies under certain conditions

Previously, public institutions and state-owned companies were exempted from the Competition Act. The new Act narrows the exemption conditions and only exempts public institutions and state-owned companies solely authorized by the government to supply products and services in a certain field.