United Arab Emirates: Antitrust/Competition Law

The UAE Ministry of Economy and Tourism is developing a National Competition Platform that will use artificial intelligence to transform competition enforcement, potentially reducing merger review timelines to 15 days while automating antitrust investigations and exemption procedures.

The UAE Cabinet has issued Executive Regulations to the Competition Law, introducing significant procedural clarifications for merger control filings.

The UAE Ministry of Economy has published detailed Guidelines on the submission of competition complaints under Federal Decree-Law No. 36 of 2023 on the Regulation of Competition (the “Competition Law”). While the Competition Law has been in force since December 2023, the practical operation of complaint-based enforcement had, until now, remained relatively opaque.