This Practice Note provides a high-level guidance overview on competition law for businesses in Kuwait.

• CPA: Competition Protection Agency, the regulator responsible for enforcing Kuwait Law No. 72/2020 On the Protection of Competition and Kuwait Decision No. 14/2021 Concerning the Issue of Executive Regulation of Kuwait Law No. 72/2020 Concerning Protection of Competition Law in Kuwait.

• Economic concentration: Any merger, acquisition, or partnership that results in a permanent change of control over an undertaking.

• Dominant position: The position that any person holds, making it capable, either individually or in collaboration with other persons, of controlling or influencing the relevant market independently of competitors, customers, or consumers.

• Relevant market: The market which consists of two elements; namely, the relevant products and relevant geographic area.

• Gun-jumping: Implementation of a notifiable transaction prior to obtaining Competition Protection Agency (CPA) clearance.

• Condition precedent: A contractual or legal requirement that must be satisfied before a transaction can close, in this case CPA clearance.

• GCC: Gulf Cooperation Council.

• Horizontal relationships: Agreements between competitors at the same level of the production or distribution chain in the relevant market.