10
magazine
ALRAQABA
Legislations
Protecting Freedom of
Competition in Kuwaiti Legislation
While the practical reality revealed that legislations which
regulate competition are not enough in itself to forbid
monopolistic practices and that it is required to have an
authority that guarantees commitment with these legisla-
tions and secures its implementation. All comparable laws
agreed on this, therefore, Kuwaiti legislator established the
Competition Protection Authority under Law No. 10/2007
in order to protect competition.
However, Law No.10/2007 regarding protecting competi-
tion was not the first initiative by the Kuwaiti Legislator to
protect competition in the market. They tried to
address the issue of illegal crowding out for the
first time in the Commerce Law No. 68/1980
by illustrating examples of crowding out. The
objective of the Legislator from these provi-
sions was to protect businesses as a trans-
ferable moral with financial value. Anyone who
examines the Kuwaiti Legislator policy in these
provisions finds that competition protection
was not mentioned in the market as an eco-
nomic structure that must not be damaged.
On the other hand, it was mentioned as an in-
dividual right that should not be violated.
Due to shortcomings in the provisions men-
tioned in the previous articles, the Kuwaiti Leg-
islator issued Law No.13/1996 to add articles
to the Law of Commerce. With it, the Kuwaiti
legislator’s mind shifted from protecting the
business and the trader from illegal competi-
tion to a deeper thought, which is protecting
the market from commercial practices that
harm competition.
However, due to shortcomings of the provi-
sions listed in Law No. 13/1996, Kuwaiti mar-
kets witnessed the appearance of suspicious monopolistic
practices and the existence of loopholes used by manip-
ulators to affect market mechanisms. That required the
preparation of an independent, comprehensive and effec-
tive legislation in order to protect competition.
The Competition Protection Authority is considered the
entity that specializes in controlling freedom of competi-
tion. The law gave it all authorities and jurisdictions, which
would enable it to do its job fully. The Competition Pro-
tection Authority’s job is not only limited to control, it also
includes raising awareness and spreading the culture of
C
onsidering
what
the global eco-
nomic
environ-
ment is witnessing dur-
ing current times in terms
of the growth of private
sector role in achieving
economic development,
countries trending to-
wards privatization, their
eagerness to attract more
foreign investments and the appearance of
huge productive and service entities. Most
countries moved towards enacting national
laws to regulate competition or improving
existing laws in order to be consistent with
global changes. All of this made with the
aim to protect the freedom of competition
and implementing sufficient guarantees
that would secure the role of competition
regarding economic growth. Competition
regulating laws represent the framework
that limits competition and aim to preserve
sufficient competition in the market.
Written by: Mariam Bokhowa
Principl Auditor, Independent
Bodies Audit for Financial and
Investment Affairs
