Saudi Arabia adopted a new Competition Law (Saudi Arabia Royal Decree No. M75/1440 of 29/6/1440H) (the Competition Law) that came into effect on 25 September 2019 together with Implementing Regulations (Saudi Arabia Administrative Decision No. 337/1441 dated 25/1/1441H) (the Regulations). Together these comprise Saudi Arabia’s competition law regime. This regime is enforced by the General Authority for Competition, which has additionally issued a number of guidance rules to assist with necessary procedural aspects and guidelines, which are designed to help raise awareness of and help businesses comply with the Competition Law and the Regulations.

This regime applies to all firms (with the exception of public corporations and fully state-owned enterprises that are authorised solely by the government to provide products and services in a certain field) doing business in Saudi Arabia, or whose activities have an anticompetitive effect in Saudi Arabia. It is concerned with three main separate but connected issues, which are:

• restrictive practices (conduct no firm may engage in);