Saudi Arabia: Adopted Competition Law 2019 including merger control regulation

On 5 March 2019, the Council of Ministers adopted the Competition Law, which would replace the previously enforced Competition Law from 2004. The 2019 law applies broadly domestically and abroad to commercial entities that might "have an adverse effect on fair competition within the Kingdom". The previous law had a narrow scope, primarily focusing on reducing monopolistic practices, while the 2019 law expands its scope to combatting anti-competitive agreements, abuse of dominant position, and economic concentration. Any two commercial entities that wish to conduct a merger, an acquisition or a joint venture are required to request approval from the General Authority for Competition (GAC) if a certain threshold is met (the executive regulations set the threshold). When investigating "economic concentration" requests, the GAC is to issue a decision within 90 days. Decisions include approval, conditional approval, and refusal.