The Egyptian Prime Minister approves amendment to the national Competition Act granting independence of its Competition Authority

The Egyptian Competition Authority (ECA) as established in the Egyptian Competition Act approved in 2005, lacked of autonomous decision-making powers relating to the possibility to settle or litigate antitrust related cases. As of December 2011, the veto power that the Competition Law granted to the government has finally been eliminated ensuring ECA's independence. In this sense, article 21 of the Egyptian Competition Law granted the relevant Minister with the power to ultimately decide whether to litigate or settle a case involving violations of the Competition Act. This provision conditioned ECA's independence by subjecting its cases to political decisions.