UAE Law and Practice Contributed by: Alex Saleh, Asad Ahmad, Khaled Abuorabi and Habiba Wahdan, GLA & Company
tion or documents or to attend interviews with the Competition Department. Consultations with other authorities in the UAE may also be made for the assessment. Once all required documents and information are provided, the Competition Department will prepare a detailed report on the “economic con - centration” transaction notified. The report will include: • a statement of all procedures and actions taken; • the underlying data; • the results of the assessment from both legal and economic perspectives, especially with regard to the positive and negative effects of the transaction on competition in the “rel - evant market”; and • the recommendation(s) of the Competition Department and proposed decision to be made by the Minister. The second phase will involve submitting the detailed report to the Minister for their review and final decision. In any event, the process should not last more than 90 days or 135 days if the option to extend for an additional 45 days is exercised. Approval should be assumed to be granted if no decision is made within this timeframe. The timeframe starts once all necessary documents and infor - mation are provided and no further engagement is required for the Competition Department to be able to prepare the detailed report. 3.9 Pre-Notification Discussions With Authorities Discussions and engagement with the Competi - tion Department are carried out with:
• the relevant “undertaking(s)” directly con - cerned with the transaction; • other “undertakings” or third parties believed by the Competition Department to be directly or indirectly affected by the transaction; and • other UAE authorities, consultants or third parties as the Competition Department con - siders appropriate. These discussions could be notified to the rel - evant “undertaking(s)” or remain confidential. The Competition Department has full discretion to engage in the way it believes to be in the best interests of all of the concerned parties. 3.10 Requests for Information During the Review Process There is no regulatory limitation or threshold on the number of requests that the Competition Department could make during its review of the documents and information required for review - ing the notification. The Competition Department is legally entitled to request any number of interviews or any vol- ume of documents or information from any of the concerned parties that it considers appropriate to enable it to complete its review. Once the Competition Department declares that it has all the information it needs to prepare its detailed report, the 90-day period starts running, even though it could be extended by another 45 days. There is no clarity on how common or burden - some some of these requests could be. How - ever, practically speaking, it is highly likely to be reasonable and essential to adequately and accurately assess the notification.
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