RIYADH — The Saudi General Authority for Competition filed charges against 79 firms operating in the automobile sector, including agents and distributors for violation of the Competition Law during the year 2023. Okaz/Saudi Gazette has learnt that the violations against these establishments included agreeing to fix prices for manipulation and dividing markets according to geographical regions in a way curtailing competition and affecting consumer welfare. Consequently, the authority filed criminal cases against 64 of these establishments, and is currently examining requests submitted by the remaining 15 establishments for settlement of the cases against them. The authority said in its report that criminal lawsuits were filed against a number of establishments operating in various sectors. These included three pharmacies and four retail markets for fixing uniform prices for a health product for children. Lawsuits were also filed against three establishments operating in the poultry and egg production sector for agreeing to fix prices, in addition to filing a criminal case against two computer programming firms for refraining from dealing with other firms and weakening their competitive position. The authority also announced initiating criminal lawsuits against six establishments for their collusion with major companies in bids, amounting to SR600 million, and the filing of a criminal lawsuit against two wholesale establishments for their failure in completing requirements related to their settlement requests. Among the lawsuits that the authority is working to bring include six establishments working in the field of information technology for their collusion in competitions worth SR7.75 million, five establishments that submitted bids with the health authorities in violation of the Competition Law, and three advertising firms for violating provisions of the law
