The new merger control regime in Egypt: from post-closing notification to pre-closing clearance

24.05.2023

CeCo EE.UU

Hadil Helmy Fiscal administrativa en la Autoridad de Procesamiento Administrativo de Egipto y candidata a LL.M. George Washington Law School, con especialización en derecho comercial y derecho y política antimonopolio. Antes, fue jefa del Departamento de Contratos y Asesoría Jurídica en Wadi Degla Holding Company, como abogada corporativa.

Abstract: Merger control policies are a major pillar in any antitrust regime. Currently, over 130 countries have competition policy systems, and only a few of them do not have pre-closing clearance in their merger control regimes. Egypt was one of these few countries until December 2022 when a new law was enacted amending the competition law in Egypt to adopt pre-closing clearance policies for merger and acquisition transactions. This Article gives an overview of the Egyptian competition system and gives insights into the provisions of the above-mentioned new law. In addition, the Article focuses on analyzing the merger control regime in Egypt and the competition authority’s relevant practices before and after the enactment of the new law.

«Before the enactment of the Recent Amendments, Egypt was one of the few countries in the world whose competition law was not adopting pre-merger approval system»