KUWAIT, Oct 7 (KUNA) -- Kuwait's National Assembly voted to approve a draft law for the protection of competition, saying the law comes in line with "rapid developments and changes" on the regional and global scales.
The result of the vote in the first deliberation saw the approval of 42 lawmakers and the rejection of five amid the 47 members present.
In a second deliberation, some 42 lawmakers voted in favour with another four voting against out of 46 attendees.
The law "comes in light of what the world is witnessing, in terms of a shift to a free market economy based on freedom of competition," read the draft law document.
"The World Trade Organization has adopted this trend since its inception and the trend of most countries to issue legislation and adopt policies commensurate with this transformation," it added.
"The law aims to create a competitive economic environment based on economic efficiency and operate in accordance with sound and fair rules and mechanisms in the market, the pillars of which are the prohibition of restrictive agreements and practices that lead to abuse of the dominant position, control of economic concentration operations, and the avoidance of anything that would disrupt, restrict, limit or prevent competition." It will contribute to "providing a competitive business environment, increasing accountability in commercial relations, as well as reducing opportunities for corruption.
The law has taken into consideration the "development of a new and comprehensive legislation that governs competition in the Kuwaiti market, taking into account keeping pace with local, regional and global developments, and avoiding deficiencies that were evident in the current legislation." (end) آ jy.sd