UAE Law and Practice Contributed by: Brendan Hundt, Dan Feldman, Sam Anastasiou and Saiesh Kamath, King & Spalding LLP
Competition Law Federal Decree Law No 36 of 2023 regulates restric- tive agreements and the abuse of dominance and eco- nomic concentrations. The law contains exclusions for certain government-owned entities under Article 4, which may apply to core statutory utility functions but does not automatically exempt all power-sector transactions. Cabinet Resolution No 3 of 2025 intro- duced implementing ratios for the new competition regime, including a 40% dominant-position threshold and economic-concentration notification thresholds based on AED300 million annual UAE sales in the rel- evant market or a 40% share of total transactions in the relevant market. Power-sector acquisitions, spon- sor consolidations and joint ventures should there- fore be screened early for competition-law applicabil- ity, threshold analysis, possible exclusions and any requirement to notify the Federal Ministry of Economy and Tourism or relevant authority. Practical Process A transaction may require sector-regulator approval or non-objection, offtaker or utility consent, lender consent, land authority approvals, corporate-regis- tration updates and a competition filing if the statu- tory thresholds are met and no exclusion applies. For licensed activities, the purchaser’s technical, financial and managerial capability may be checked against the relevant licence and regulator requirements. For Abu Dhabi self-supply and development licences, Depart- ment of Energy materials expressly refer to legal, man- agerial, financial and technical competencies as part of the assessment. The timetable for a sale or change of control could therefore be built around consent sequencing. Com- petition analysis, regulator engagement, lender con- sent and offtaker approvals need to begin early in the process because a condition in one workstream may affect the deliverability of another, particularly where a transaction changes the technical operator, financing
bodies have a role in facilitating cross-border elec- tricity and water trade. Federal policy is set through Cabinet-level strategies and the Federal Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure, while the Federal Regu- latory Bureau for Electricity and Water co-ordinates cross-border electricity/water trade both between the emirates and other Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states. To support inter-emirate and regional system inte- gration, the Emirates National Grid and the GCC Interconnection Authority provide links between the UAE’s emirate grids and neighbouring GCC states to improve reserve sharing and system resilience and to facilitate commercial transfers between power authorities. The GCC Interconnection Authority also provides a framework for scheduled energy transfers, operational reserves and settlement of unscheduled exchanges. At the emirate level, Abu Dhabi’s Department of Energy is the central regulator and strategic planning body for the energy sector. Its statutory responsibilities include proposing strategic and executive plans, regulating the sector through policies, codes and standards, licensing sector participants, which includes licens- ing the procurement, generation/production, trans- mission and distribution functions within the sector, proposing tariffs and monitoring compliance. EWEC performs the key practical supply-adequacy function because it plans, forecasts, purchases and dispatches bulk water and electricity supply for distribution com- panies and relevant authorities. This structure makes Abu Dhabi the jurisdiction in which planning, procure- ment and economic regulation are most visibly sepa- rated between regulator, single buyer and network operators. In Dubai, DEWA and the Dubai Supreme Council of Energy perform the equivalent practical planning role. DEWA plans, owns and operates the integrated elec- tricity utility system, while Dubai’s statutory framework allows private-sector participation in electricity and water production through specific regulated routes. As noted above, supply adequacy and network devel- opment are managed and planned through the rel-
structure or ultimate shareholder profile. 1.5 Central Planning Authorities
The UAE does not have a single national electricity system operator equivalent to fully integrated national power markets, but emirate-level authorities operate according to federal policies and other dedicated
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