SAUDI ARABIA Law and Practice Contributed by: Alex Saleh, Asad Ahmad, Khaled al-Khashab and Shahad Al-Humaidani, GLA & Company
The regulatory review period may be suspended when: • the GAC requests any information or docu - ments from the applicants. It may suspend the regulatory review period from the date when it requests the information or docu - ments, to the date when the applicant pro - vides the requested information or docu - ments; or • the GAC finds that the economic concentra - tion parties or their representatives have pro - vided incorrect information or failed to submit available information to the GAC within the prescribed period. A case team will be appointed to conduct a review and investigation into the economic concentration, within the 90-day period. Once the case team has completed its review, it will submit a detailed note outlining its opinion to the GAC’s board of directors. The board will evalu - ate the case team’s opinion, taking all relevant factors and its objectives under the KSA Com - petition Law and the Executive Regulations into account. The board will issue a decision in one of the following ways: • approval of the economic concentration application; • refusal of the economic concentration appli - cation, where the decision will be accompa - nied by a statement of reasons; or • approval of the economic concentration, sub - ject to conditions determined by the board, where the decision will be accompanied by a statement of reasons. 3.9 Pre-Notification Discussions With Authorities The GAC is generally available for discussions with parties or their representatives before the
formal notification of an economic concentration transaction. Pre-notification discussions are entirely volun - tary and at the discretion of the parties. The GAC will not conduct pre-notification discussions on a hypothetical basis or without knowing the identities of the parties and markets. To request a pre-notification discussion, the parties or their representatives should provide the following information to the GAC: • the names and contact information of the economic concentration parties and their representatives (if any); • the type of transaction; • the markets or goods and services affected by the proposed transaction; and • the possible impact of the transaction on competition in general terms. It is generally recommended that this information be provided in the form of a brief confidential memorandum to the GAC as this will make the pre-notification process more efficient. Pre-notification discussions are encouraged by the GAC and treated as strictly confidential. 3.10 Requests for Information During the Review Process The information requested during the review process includes: • documents, records, data, files, specific writ - ten information and other information that the GAC considers relevant to its review of the transaction; • the information from other parties, including from competitors, other stakeholders and the general public;
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