BAHRAIN Law and Practice Contributed by: Noor Al Rayes, Bradley Price, Mohamed Al Sari and Raghad Al Matrook, Al Tamimi & Company
proceed as individual civil actions, subject to the ordinary rules on standing, evidence and procedure applicable to civil claims generally, rather than any threshold certification stage designed to test the suit - ability of a matter for collective treatment. 5. Choice of Jurisdiction 5.1 Rules on Jurisdiction and Applicable Law Jurisdiction over private antitrust claims is determined in accordance with Bahrain’s general civil procedure rules. As a general principle, the Bahraini courts have jurisdiction where the defendant is domiciled in Bah - rain, or where the anti-competitive conduct, or its effects, occurred within Bahraini territory. Where the underlying agreement between the parties contains a valid jurisdiction or arbitration clause, that clause will generally be respected, subject to Bahraini public pol - icy considerations and the mandatory application of the Competition Law where relevant conduct affects the Bahraini market. As to applicable law, claims alleging infringement of the Competition Law are governed by Bahraini law. Article (2) of the Competition Law expressly extends its application to conduct or arrangements intended to, or resulting in, anti-competitive effects within the Kingdom, even where one or more of the parties is not established in Bahrain and the conduct itself is carried out extraterritorially, provided it affects competition in the Kingdom. Ancillary contractual or tortious issues arising in connection with the claim will generally also be governed by Bahraini law, unless the parties have validly agreed to a different governing law in a manner consistent with Bahrain’s conflict of laws rules and public policy.
supporting its own case, rather than being subject to an automatic, wide-ranging obligation to disclose all relevant documents to the other side. A party may, however, apply to the court for an order compelling the opposing party, or in some cases a third party, to produce specific, identified documents that are relevant to the proceedings. The court retains discretion over whether to grant such an application, and the requesting party must generally demonstrate the relevance of the documents sought and their materiality to the issues in dispute. This more target - ed approach means that claimants in antitrust cases often need to build their evidentiary case through oth - er means, such as expert economic analysis, before or alongside seeking targeted document production. This is distinct from the more extensive investigatory powers available to the Authority itself during a regula - tory investigation, including the power to compel pro - duction of documents from third parties under Article (43) of the Competition Law, which are not directly available to a private litigant. 6.2 Legal Professional Privilege Legal professional privilege is recognised under Bahraini law through the confidentiality obligations imposed on lawyers under the laws regulating the legal profession. Communications between a cli - ent and its external legal counsel for the purpose of obtaining legal advice are generally protected from compelled disclosure in civil proceedings, including private antitrust litigation. The scope of protection for in-house counsel commu - nications and for documents prepared in anticipation of litigation is less developed than in many common law jurisdictions, and there is limited judicial guidance on the application of privilege in the competition law context. Accordingly, parties should adopt a cau - tious approach when creating, handling and labelling documents that are intended to be privileged, par - ticularly where in-house legal or compliance teams are involved. 6.3 Leniency and Settlement Agreements The Competition Law does not contain express provi - sions protecting leniency applications or settlement agreements with the Competition Authority from dis -
6. Disclosure/Discovery 6.1 Disclosure/Discovery Procedure
Bahrain does not have a broad, common-law style discovery procedure. Document disclosure in civil proceedings, including private antitrust claims, is instead governed by the general rules of the Civil and Commercial Procedures Law, under which each party is generally responsible for producing the evidence
28 A NTITRUST LI T IGATI O N 2026
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