SAUDI ARABIA Law and Practice Contributed by: Alex Saleh, Asad Ahmad, Omar Halbouni and Shahad Al-Humaidani, GLA & Company
Written Requests A request for information will ordinarily be made by way of a written request addressed to the relevant parties or their representatives. The written request for information will state the purpose of the request, specify what information is required and specify the time limit within which the information is to be pro - vided. A written request for information may cover all types of information helpful to the case team in assessing the transaction, including, but not limited to: • written responses to specific questions; • data and statistics; • economic studies and market surveys; • the parties’ internal documents, such as strategic plans, strategic analyses of corporate markets, pricing policies, business plans, marketing plans, long and short-term forecasts, a list of major cus - tomers, information about competitors, marketing and sales reports, sales and bidding data, excess capacities data, production costs and • any other documents and data that the GAC con - siders necessary for its assessment of the intended The GAC may also gather information by holding meetings and direct interviews with the concentration parties or third parties. The GAC may communicate by phone with any representatives or affiliates of the concentration parties and, when necessary, request any information required for the review of economic concentrations at any stage of the review process. Information that may be sought by way of phone com - munications or meetings may include the following: • basic or summary information that is required with - out delay; • verification of specific claims submitted by one of the concentration parties or third parties; • identification of specific individuals who can pro - vide evidence; and • any other information that may appropriately be sought in this way. economic concentration. Meetings and Interviews
The 90-day regulatory review period may be suspend - ed in specific circumstances: • when the GAC requests any information or docu - ments from the applicants, it may suspend the regulatory review period from the date it requests the information or documents to the date the appli - cant provides the requested information or docu - ments; and • when the GAC finds that the economic concentra - tion parties or their representatives have provided incorrect information or failed to submit any infor - mation available to the GAC within the prescribed period. 3.10 Accelerated Procedure There is no indication that an accelerated procedure is available under applicable law or GAC regulations. The substantive test applied by the GAC in assessing economic concentrations is whether the transaction is likely to have an actual or potential effect of sub - stantially lessening competition in the relevant market in KSA. This assessment, as set out in the Economic Concentration Review Guidelines, is forward-looking in nature and typically conducted through a counter - factual analysis comparing expected market condi - tions with and without the proposed transaction. The GAC does not require the anticompetitive effect to be certain; it is sufficient that there is a real likeli - hood of a substantial weakening of competition based on the available evidence. In applying this test, the GAC assesses whether the transaction may result in a significant and sustained increase in market power, including the merged entity’s ability to raise prices or otherwise adversely affect competitive parameters such as quality, innovation or consumer choice. The assessment is supported by the factors set out in Article 22 of the Implementing Regulations, includ - ing market structure, the level of actual and potential competition, barriers to entry and expansion, availabil - ity of substitutes, consumer welfare and the potential 4. Substance of the Review 4.1 Substantive Test
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