On 6 May 2025, the California Privacy Protection Agency (CPPA) announced an enforcement action against clothing designer Todd Snyder, Inc. to pay a fine of USD 345,178 and adopt new practices to resolve violations of the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). The CPPA alleged that the retailer violated the CCPA by: (i) imposing excessive hurdles for consumer requests to opt out of third-party tracking technologies; (ii) failing to honor these requests because of misconfigurations; and (iii) failing to monitor its consent management platform.

We are excited to invite you to our upcoming webinar on the recently issued 5th edition of the Economic Concentration Review Guidelines by the General Authority for Competition (GAC) of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). This critical update, published on 8 April 2025, brings significant refinements and clarity to the KSA merger control regime.

Key Topics to be Covered:
• Main changes introduced at a glance
• Clarification of the notification thresholds
• Update on the concept of Change of Control
• New Exemptions to Notification
• Validity Period for Clearance Decisions
• Q&As

The General Authority for Competition in Saudi Arabia has recently published its quarterly report on economic concentration applications for Q1 2025. This alert summarizes the key highlights of the report published by the authority, with particular focus on the issuance of the first conditional approvals of the year.

On 8 April 2025, the General Authority for Competition (GAC) of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) published the 5th edition of its Economic Concentration Review Guidelines (formerly known as the Merger Review Guidelines).
This critical update, following the GAC’s public consultation on its proposed amendments to the Guidelines of 1 July 2024, provides essential refinements and clarity on the KSA merger control regime.

Over the past year, antitrust regulators in the Middle East have implemented significant changes to the local competition law regimes, with a new competition law coming into effect in the United Arab Emirates and substantial changes being made to the applicable merger control regimes in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and Egypt. Competition law enforcement has also continued to intensify in the KSA and Egypt, as well as in other key emerging markets in the GCC. During this 2-hour seminar, we will provide an update on the latest key competition law developments and what to expect on the horizon as well as compliance tips and pointers.

The General Authority for Competition in Saudi Arabia has recently issued new guidelines aimed at promoting competition in the supply and sale of school uniforms and related items. The guidelines cover all relevant equipment, including school uniforms, desks, and chairs, among other necessary supplies. These guidelines are part of the Authority’s continued effort to enhance consumer protection in the Saudi market and Competition Law in Saudi Arabia.

The General Authority for Competition (“Authority”) recently published its annual report for 2023. This latest annual report indicates an unprecedented level of activity by the Authority and confirms the magnitude of the enforcement actions taken by the Authority to ensure compliance of the Competition Law in Saudi Arabia.

On 1 November 2023, the Board of the General Authority for Competition announced that new financial thresholds would apply to determine whether a transaction is reportable to the Authority. By implementing such change, the aim of the Authority is to provide further clarity on the local nexus test required for a transaction to be notifiable to the Authority and to align the Saudi merger control regime further with international standards.