Khaberni - The Ministry of Industry, Trade, and Supply dealt with 53 files in the field of competition and its enhancement in the local market in accordance with the provisions of the Competition Law during the first ten months of the current year, including
reviewing and studying complaints, consultations, mergers, and applications for economic concentration submitted by various economic sectors.
Yanal Al-Barmawi, the Ministry's Media Spokesperson/Advisor, stated in a press release today, Wednesday, that through its Competition Directorate, the Ministry works on several axes to ensure fair competition in the local market among goods and service providers which serves the national economy and meets consumer interests.
It also enhances the business environment by establishing market rules and price freedom within regulatory frameworks that guarantee fair competition protection.
He added that, in the context of ongoing efforts to maintain and enhance competition in the local market, the Ministry dealt from the beginning of the current year until the end of last October with 17 complaints received from economic sectors. The complaints involved breaches of competition rules and included multiple sectors: processed meats, dairy, yeast, bakery products, soft drinks, pharmaceuticals, metal industries, telecommunications, electronic applications and systems, mobile devices and car parts, health products, delivery services, and other sectors.
The Competition Directorate conducted necessary studies and took direct actions against several violators to halt practices and correct the situation to ensure proper market mechanisms, while it was found that some did not violate the law provisions, and it continues to consider one of these complaints currently.
Al-Barmawi said that the Ministry also dealt, as part of its prior oversight of economic concentration operations aimed at preventing any changes to the market structure that may lead to competition-disturbing practices, with 31 files distributed into: 24 requests for opinions, 4 mergers, and 3 requests for economic concentration in various sectors including dairy, carpets and rugs, textiles, vehicle trade, bakeries, aviation, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, information and communications technology, trade of chemical materials and building materials, insurance, and delivery, transport, and logistics services, timber trade, jewelry trade, consumer electronics trade, and the fuels sector, where the Directorate studied several economic concentration cases which included mergers and acquisitions and issued necessary decisions regarding them.
Al-Barmawi explained that the Ministry played an advisory role through providing opinions on 5 competition-related issues submitted by public and private sector entities, which contributed to clarifying the law provisions and allowing the entities to rectify their conditions and avoid practices violating competition.
