EGYPT Law and Practice Contributed by: Alex Saleh, Asad Ahmad, Hegui Taha and Farida Koura, GLA & Company
1. Legislation and Enforcing Authorities 1.1 Merger Control Legislation
2, 4, 24 and 25 of the Telecommunications Law, Law No 10 of 2003 to regulate competi - tion and to ensure economic freedom in the sector. The NTRA indirectly examines and detects mergers by reviewing the licence requirements of any given operator. The NTRA will assess and evaluate any merger on the basis of its impact on competition. In the event that the NTRA foresees or detects a violation of law, they will threaten or directly block any merger by revoking the merging entities’ licences. Article 27 of the Telecom - munications Law also provides the NTRA with additional tools to preserve competition. This provision allows the NTRA to temporar - ily authorise licensees to offer services at prices below approved tariffs, subject to strict conditions. However, this pricing flexibility is immediately revocable if the NTRA deter - mines that the discounted pricing violates free competition rules. • The Central Bank of Egypt (the “CBE”) acts as the regulator of the banking system. Article 74 of the Banking Law, Law No 194 of 2020 establishes a strict pre-approval regime for significant bank ownership, requiring par - ties to seek approval from the CBE at least 60 days before acquisitions of more than a 10% stake (and any subsequent increase) in a bank or any other percentage that will enable any natural or corporate person or their related parties to have control over the management or decision-making in the bank. If a bank fails to comply with this, the voting rights and the distribution of dividends corre - spondent to shares exceeding the authorised percentage will be suspended. In this event, the individual or entity in breach will dispose of the shares exceeding the percentage within six months from the date of their transfer. The CBE may request the Financial Regulatory Authority (the ”FRA”) appoint a brokerage
The Arab Republic of Egypt is committed to fostering a competitive economic environment that does not restrict, prevent or damage the freedom of competition. Law No 3 of 2005 on the Protection of Competition and Prohibition of Monopolistic Practice (the “Egyptian Competi - tion Law” or the ”ECL”) was therefore enacted. The Egyptian Competition Law has since been amended four times (in 2008, 2010, 2014 and, most recently, with the introduction of the ex ante merger control regime through Law No 175 of 2022 (the “Amendments”)). On 4 April 2024, the Egyptian Prime Minister issued Decree No 1120 of 2024 to implement the Amendments issued to the ECL which made significant revisions to the executive regulations to the Egyptian Competition Law (the “Executive Regulations”). The Executive Regulations intro - duced the long-awaited merger control frame - work and established ”Chapter Nine: Examining Economic Concentration”, providing the legal foundation for pre-transaction notifications and reviews. The Egyptian Competition Authority (the “ECA”) has also published guidelines and FAQs (the ”Guidelines”) to help parties navigate the newly established ex ante merger control regime. 1.2 Legislation Relating to Particular Sectors Other specific local legislation should be taken into account when it comes to specific sectors. This includes the following. • The National Telecommunications Regula - tory Authority (the “NTRA”) applies Articles
165 CHAMBERS.COM
Powered by FlippingBook