UAE Law and Practice Contributed by: Alex Saleh, Asad Ahmad, Khaled Abuorabi and Habiba Wahdan, GLA & Company
1. Legislation and Enforcing Authorities 1.1 Merger Control Legislation
on antitrust arrangements and abuses of domi - nant positions. Abuses of a dominant position include: predatory pricing; discriminating among customers without objective justification; refusal to supply; limiting production; failure to satisfy demand; and tying arrangements. The Competition Law also states that its aim is to protect and enhance competition in the UAE and to combat monopolistic practices through: • providing a stimulating environment for busi - nesses to enhance efficiency, competitive - ness and the interest of consumers and to achieve sustainable development in the UAE; and • sustaining a competitive market governed by the market’s mechanisms through the princi - ple of economic freedom by way of banning restrictive agreements, banning businesses and actions that lead to the abuse of a domi - nant position, controlling the operations of economic concentrations and avoiding every - thing that may create prejudice within, limit or prevent competition. The Competition Threshold Rules define “domi - nance” and set out the relevant antitrust and merger control filing thresholds. The SME Definition Decision, on the other hand, is limited to defining small and medium enter - prises exempt from the application of the Com - petition Law. Both the Competition Law and the Competition Regulations are, theoretically speaking, largely based on EU Competition Law and reflect many elements of international best practice norms (including in the US). However, it could also be said that the Competition Law will only apply if the thresholds under the Competition Threshold
Four pieces of legislation should be read togeth - er to understand the antitrust and merger control framework in the UAE. This legislation signifi - cantly interlinks and so it is necessary to read all four pieces together to understand the big - ger picture and how to comply with the relevant antitrust and merger control regulatory require - ments. The four pieces of legislation are as fol - lows (and can be collectively referred to as the “UAE Competition Legislation”): • Federal Law No 36 of 2023 Concerning the Regulation of Competition (the “Competition Law”); • Cabinet Resolution No 37 of 2014: the Imple - menting Regulations of the Competition Law (the “Competition Regulations”); • Cabinet Resolution No. 3 of 2025 Concerning the Percentages Related to the Implementa - tion of the Competition Law (the “Competition Threshold Rules”); and • Cabinet Resolution No 22 of 2016 on Unified Definition of Small and Medium Enterprises (the “SME Definition Decision”). Updated Competition Regulations have not yet been issued. Consequently, according to Article 39 of the Competition Law, the existing Competition Regulations and any other resolu - tions related to the previous Competition Law will remain in effect until their replacements are issued. The new Competition Regulations are expected to be issued shortly, as the Ministry must issue the regulations within six months of the date the Competition Law took effect. The Competition Law and the Competition Reg - ulations regulate merger control, prohibitions
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