Iraqi and Saudi Competition Authorities Sign MoU

On 20 February 2025 the Saudi General Authority for Competition (GAC) and the Iraqi Competition and Antitrust Council (CAC) signed an MoU to promote cooperation competition law matters between the countries. From a Saudi perspective this step is not out of the ordinary. The GAC has been one of the most active enforcers in the MENA region since the Kingdom revised their competition law effective late 2019. For the CAC on the other hand signing the MoU with the GAC marks a break. Iraq so far has not been an active antitrust or merger control jurisdictions. Whether singing this MoU with the GAC ushers in an active competition law regime in Iraq or with this was just an anomaly remains to be seen.

The MoU covers cooperation in antitrust and merger control matters. Primarily it provides for exchange of information and experts among the two authorities. Unlike prior MoUs concluded by the GAC—as for example the MoU the GAC concluded with the Kuwaiti Competition Protection Authority—the Iraqi-Saudi MoU does address what kind of information will be exchanged. It solidifies the intention of the authorities to exchange information on ongoing investigations of competition law violations, merger control notifications and other requests received by them, as well as reports and market studies conducted by the authorities.

Confidentiality obligations are not addressed in the MoU. GAC staff are obligated to maintain confidentiality of information provide to them in merger control filings. In our experience the GAC has approached parties to procure such consent where they sought to reach out to other authorities. We would expect the GAC to apply the same standards when cooperating with the CAC. In Iraq the situation is less clear. The Iraqi Competition Law does not clearly address confidentiality. Also, the CAC so far is largely inactive. Hence, it remains to be seen whether the CAC would also seek consent before sharing information.

How information will be exchanged—i.e. whether there will be a structured procedures or whether the authorities envisage ad hoc communication between their staff—is not addressed either. While there is no experience with the CAC cooperating on information exchange with other competition authorities, the GAC signed a similar MoU with the Kuwaiti Competition Protection authority. As far as we are aware this MoU between the Saudi and Kuwaiti authorities has not led to regular, ad hoc exchange between the authorities’ staff. Instead, the authorities appear to only engage in scheduled bilateral meetings. We are not aware of a case where the Kuwaiti or the Saudi authority informed the other of a transaction notified to them for merger control review or an investigation they initiated. We do not expect the Iraqi-Saudi MoU to prompt more enthusiastic exchange among the CAC and the GAC. Still, the MoU has only recently been issued. Also, the Arab Competition Network announced at their 2024 annual meeting that they would take steps to foster information exchange among the MENA competition authorities, including on merger review and enforcement. We have not seen evidence of the Arab Competition Network implementing mechanisms or procedures to enhance communication among the authorities. Still, information exchange appears to be of increasing concern to competition authorities in the MENA region. This may also impact how vigorous the CAC and the GAC will implement the MoU they singed in February.

Aside from information exchange the Iraqi-Saudi MoU calls for exchange of experts. It does not go into specifics on what is meant by exchange of experts. This may refer to secondments between the two authorities. However, so far the MENA competition authorities—including the CAC and the GAC—have made very little use of secondments. Whether this may change with the new MoU is unclear.

While the MoU remains largely rudimentary, it shows an increasing focus of the GAC to establish cooperation with other enforcers. However, looking at Iraq the MoU is a much more interesting development. Iraq has so far not been an active antitrust and merger control jurisdiction. However, lately the CAC has been become somewhat more active. Most of this activity related to awareness building for competition law inside Iraq. The MoU is the most notable development thus far. It remains to be seen whether them reaching out to the Saudi authority will be a one-off aberration or the beginning of an increased focus on competition law enforcement in Iraq.