EGYPT Law and Practice Contributed by: Mohamed Hashish, Heba El Abd, Farida Rezk, Omar Aboul-Ella, Mariam Rabie and Mohamed Selim, Soliman, Hashish & Partners
6. Competition Law 6.1 Merger Control Notification
6.3 Cartels The Antitrust Law primarily governs anti-com - petitive agreements and monopolistic practices. It prohibits agreements between competitors, or between a party and any of its suppliers or cli - ents, with the purpose of restricting competition such as price fixing and other forms of anti-com - petitive agreements. The Antitrust Law also sets penalties for any violation under the provisions thereof, such as nullity of certain agreements
With respect to the amendments in late 2022 to the Antitrust Law No 3 of 2005, as amend- ed, the pre-closing clearance for any transac - tion that constitutes an “economic concentra - tion”, subject to meeting the relevant criteria with respect to financial thresholds, has been newly introduced, replacing the post-notification regime. Under the new amendments, economic concentration is defined as any change of con - trol or material influence as a result of a merger or acquisition or establishment of a joint venture. 6.2 Merger Control Procedure In April 2024, the Egyptian Prime Minister issued Decree No 1120 of 2024, issuing the Executive Regulations of the Antitrust Law, whereby the application of the new amendments to the Anti - trust Law has been introduced. The Egyptian Competition Authority was granted the author - ity to review and approve proposed mergers and acquisitions prior to entering into the transac - tion, provided that the said proposed transac - tion constitutes an “economic concentration” and meets the relevant criteria with respect to financial thresholds. The new pre-merger control system came into effect as of 1 June 2024. Further, the Financial Regulatory Authority (FRA) was granted authority to review and approve any proposed mergers and acquisitions prior to their execution, provided that the persons concerned with the transaction exercise one of the activities under the FRA’s supervision, including, inter alia, securities and capital markets activities, insur - ance, reinsurance or insurance brokerage activi - ties, financial leasing activities, or microfinance activities.
and fines on a case-by-case basis. 6.4 Abuse of Dominant Position
The Antitrust Law addresses the abuse of a dominant position by one entity or more within the market, such as unfair pricing, unwillingness to deal and discrimination.
7. Intellectual Property 7.1 Patents
According to the Intellectual Property Law No 82 of 2002 (the “Intellectual Property Law”), the fol - lowing conditions must be met for an invention to be granted a patent: • novelty; • inventive step; and • capability of economic exploitation. The owner of the patented innovation has the right to prohibit others from using, making, sell - ing, or importing the patent commercially once it has been registered. Generally, patent protec - tion is valid for 20 years from the date of filing the application. 7.2 Trade Marks According to the Intellectual Property Law, a trademark is a logo, mark, word or any visu - ally perceptible sign that is used by a certain
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