In this Law, the following terms shall have the meanings assigned thereto, unless the context requires otherwise:

• Law: Competition Law.

• Authority: General Authority for Competition.

• Board: The Authority's Board of Directors.

• Chairman: The Chairman of the Board.

• Governor: The Authority's Governor.

• Regulations: Implementing Regulations of the Law.

• Entity: Any natural or legal person engaged in an economic activity, including commercial, agricultural, industrial, and service activities, as well as the purchase and sale of goods and services.

• Market: A physical place or any other medium where a group of current and prospective buyers and sellers meet within a specified period.

• Dominant Position: A situation in which an entity, or a group of entities, influences the market or controls a certain percentage thereof. The Regulations shall determine such percentage in accordance with criteria approved by the Board.

• Economic Concentration: Any activity that results in the total or partial transfer of ownership of assets, rights, stocks, shares, or obligations of an entity to another, or in the combining of two or more managements into one joint management, in accordance with the Regulations.

• Committee: The Committee for Adjudication of Violations of the Law

This Law aims to protect and encourage fair competition, and to combat and prevent monopolistic practices that affect lawful competition or consumer interest; thereby improving the market environment and promoting economic development.

1. Without prejudice to the provisions of other laws, the provisions of this Law shall apply to:

• a) all entities within the Kingdom; and

• b) practices taking place outside the Kingdom which have an adverse effect on fair competition within the Kingdom, in accordance with the provisions of this Law.

 2. Paragraph (1) of this Article shall not apply to public establishments and State-owned companies if such establishments or companies are granted exclusive rights by the Government to provide goods or services in a certain field.

3. The Authority shall have original jurisdiction over any matter arising from the application of this Law, or conflicting or overlapping with the jurisdiction of other governmental entities.

The Regulations shall determine the rules that must be observed in the application of this Article.

The prices of goods and services shall be in accordance with market rules and free competition principles, except for prices of goods and services determined pursuant to a resolution issued by the Council of Ministers, or an applicable law.

Practices which deliberately or inadvertently prejudice competition, whether written or verbal, explicit or implicit, including agreements or contracts between entities, shall be prohibited, particularly the following:

1. Determining or proposing prices of goods, fees of service, and terms of sale or purchase, and the like.

2. Determining the goods' sizes, weights, and production quantities, or determining the performance of services.

3. Restricting the free flow of goods and services to or from markets in whole or in part by unjustly concealing, storing, or refusing to deal therein.

4. Any conduct that obstructs the entry of an entity into the market or leads to its exclusion therefrom.

5. Preventing a particular entity or entities from accessing goods and services available in the market, in whole or in part.

6. Dividing markets for the sale or purchase of goods and services, or designating them according to any specific criteria, particularly:

• a) geographical areas;

• b) distribution centers;

• c) customer type; and

• d) seasons and time periods.

7. Freezing or limiting the manufacturing, development, distribution, and marketing process, as well as all other investment activities.

8. Colluding or coordinating in bids or offers of government tenders, auctions, and the like, in a manner that prejudices competition.

Any entity having a dominant position in the market or a substantial part thereof shall be prohibited from exploiting such position to prejudice or limit competition, including the following:

• 1. Selling goods or services at a price lower than their total cost to force entities out of the market or subject them to substantial losses, or to obstruct potential entities from entering the market.

• 2. Determining or imposing prices or terms for the resale of goods or services.

• 3. Decreasing or increasing quantities of available products to control prices and create a false sense of abundance or shortage.

• 4. Discriminating among entities under similar contracts in relation to prices of goods and fees of services or their terms of sale and purchase.

• 5. Refusing to deal with another entity without a valid reason to obstruct its entry into the market.

• 6. Requiring an entity to refrain from dealing with another entity.

• 7. Making the sale of goods or the provision of services conditional upon incurring obligations or accepting goods or services which, by their nature or by commercial use, are not related to the goods or services subject of the original contract or transaction.

Entities seeking to join an economic concentration transaction must notify the Authority at least 90 days prior to the completion of such transaction if the total value of the entities' annual sales exceeds the amount determined by the Regulations.

The Board may, in accordance with the Regulations and upon the recommendation of a technical committee formed for such purpose, approve an entity's request to be exempted from any of the provisions of Articles 5, 6, and 7 of this Law, if this improves market performance or improves the entity's performance in terms of product quality, technological development, or creative efficiency, provided the consumer's benefit from such exemption outweighs the effects of restricting freedom of competition.

1. The Regulations shall determine the procedures that must be followed in economic concentration notifications, as well as the required content, information, and documents.

2. The Authority may access and obtain copies of all records, data, files, and documents of the entities taking part in the economic concentration.

The Board shall issue a decision concerning economic concentration notifications in any of the following forms:

• 1. Approval.

• 2. Conditional approval.

• 3. Refusal.

The refusal and conditional approval decisions must be reasoned.