UNITED ARAB EMIRATES Law and Practice Contributed by: Yasser Omar and Laryssa Perkins, Hadef & Partners LLC
In addition to regulating economic concentration, the Competition Law also prohibits predatory pricing and restrictive agreements (which may include, but are not limited to, agreements setting the price of goods or services contrary to the market price, implementing collusive tendering, freezing or limiting production or development, and/or restricting the free flow of goods or services from a specific market). Financial Free Zones As of the date of publication, neither the ADGM nor the DIFC has separate legislation to regulate antitrust or merger control. 6.2 Criteria for Antitrust/Competition Review Pursuant to the existing implementing regulations of the Competition Law Framework, the following docu - ments are to be submitted in Arabic (or at least with a certified Arabic translation) to the Competition Author - ity at the Ministry in relation to seeking approval for an • the relevant term sheet or agreement setting out the proposed economic concentration process (whether executed or in a draft form); • the constitutional documents of the parties, duly certified; • the financial statements of the parties for the last two financial years, duly certified; • the shareholder registers of the relevant parties; and • an economic report analysing the positive impact of the transaction on the relevant market and the proposed commitments and actions of the parties to reduce any potential negative impacts. The existing implementing regulations also provide that the Competition Authority at the Ministry will consider these documents to verify the economic concentration activity for the purposes of preparing a report for the Minister to review to decide on the application based on the following indicators: • the real and potential competition level in the con - cerned market; • how easy it is for new establishments to enter the concerned market; economic concentration process: • the approved notification form;
• the extent of the potential impact on the prices of the relevant commodities or services; • the extent of the existence of legal obstacles affecting the entry of new competitors; • the probability of emergence of a dominant posi - tion in the concerned market; • the extent of the potential impact on creation, inno - vation and technical competence; • the extent of contribution in the promotion of investment or export, or the enhancement of the national establishments’ ability to compete interna - tionally; and • the extent of the impact on the interests of con - sumers. 6.3 Remedies and Commitments Parties to the proposed economic concentration activ - ity can voluntarily submit an undertaking to implement measures designed to prevent the anti-competitive consequences of the proposed activity within 30 days of submitting a complete application. Under Article 15 of the existing implementing regula - tions, where it is determined that the provisions of the Competition Law have been breached, with the exception of conduct in breach of the confidential pro - visions by Ministry employees, the Minister may enter into a settlement with parties before the filing of a criminal case. However, the violating parties must pay a fine no less than double the minimum fine provided by the Competition Law. The settlement is effective upon paying the fine. 6.4 Antitrust/Competition Enforcement Under the Competition Law, the Minister may: • approve the economic concentration operation; • approve the economic concentration operation, conditional upon the concerned parties’ commit - ment to fulfil the terms and obligations they have undertaken or those ascertained by the Minister; • reject the economic concentration operation; or • exempt the economic concentration operation from the conditions specified in Article 12 of the Com - petition Law. Once the decision is made by the Minister, the relevant competent authorities have the power and authority
651 CHAMBERS.COM
Powered by FlippingBook