Webinar: Merger Control In The MENA Region

The evolution of the Saudi regime in September 2019 was followed by a wave of reforms through out the region with the first country to follow being Morocco which implemented reforms in 2020. Kuwait followed in 2021, and Egypt initiating a process of changing from a post- to a pre-closing notification regime end of 2022.

Saudi Arabia and Egypt continuous to be the most rapidly evolving merger control jurisdictions in the MENA region. The Saudi General Authority for Competition (GAC) in 2020 issue first merger guidelines. These were limited to clarifications on the notification threshold and how it would be calculated. In 2021 the GAC followed these up by issued comprehensive clarifications in their second merger guidelines and since took steps to further develop and adjust their merger control regime. The reform process in Egypt was initiated in 2017 when the Egyptian Competition Authority (ECA) proposed changing the countries post-closing notification to a pre-closing