UAE Law and Practice Contributed by: Alex Saleh, Asad Ahmad, Khaled Abuorabi and Habiba Wahdan, GLA & Company
• The audited consolidated financial statements of the relevant “undertaking(s)” for the last two years. • The shareholders’ register of the relevant “undertaking(s)”. • An economic report analysing the positive impact of the transaction. The notification form, term sheet or agreement (whether executed or in draft form) and the attachments mentioned above should be sub - mitted in Arabic. An English translation of the notification form can also be filed, but practically speaking, the Competition Department will only refer to the Arabic documents and will disregard the English copy. The Competition Regulations require three hard copies of the notification with the attachments to be submitted. However, in practical terms, the Competition Department now accepts the notification and attachments to be sent in an electronic form and it is no longer necessary to submit hard copies. If some of the documents or information in the notification or its attachments are confidential, the relevant “undertaking(s)” may refer the Competition Department to the confidential information and may also submit a non-confidential summary of the confidential information to maintain it. Additional documents and information can be requested by the Com - petition Department during the merger control review process. 3.6 Penalties/Consequences of Incomplete Notification There is no penalty for an incomplete notification if it was an honest mistake or was done in good faith. The only consequence is that the Competi - tion Department will not assess or analyse it until all documents are submitted, whether required
by law or further requested by the Competition Department. The 90-day timeframe, during which a decision should be issued (and which could be extended for an additional 45 days for this purpose), will not start until the Competition Department con - siders the notification complete. This can only happen when all documents and information requested by the Competition Department are submitted. 3.7 Penalties/Consequences of Inaccurate or Misleading Information A provision in the UAE Federal Crimes and Pen - alties Law No 21 of 2021 states that imprison - ment and/or a fine will be imposed on anyone who, in bad faith, makes a false statement to a judicial or administrative authority. Nonetheless, none of these penalties will apply if the inac - curate information was provided because of an honest mistake or on the basis of good faith where the applicant honestly believed that the information was true and accurate. Inaccurate information should be promptly rectified and updated once the relevant “undertaking” knows that inaccurate information was provided. 3.8 Review Process The review process will be defined in the new Implementing Regulations to the Competition Law. Until the Implementing Regulations are issued, the procedures will be carried out in two phases. The first phase is carried out by the Competition Department, who ensure first of all that the notification is complete and includes all the relevant information and documents. To ensure the notification is complete, the Com - petition Department may require the relevant “undertaking(s)” and any other concerned par - ty, as the Competition Department will consider appropriate, to provide the necessary informa -
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