Law, Society and the Market: Living with Egypt's Competition Law 2005-2015
Forthcoming in LAW AND SOCIETY IN POST-REVOLUTION EGYPT, Amr Shalakany ed. (AUC Press), 2018
21 Pages Posted: 27 Dec 2017
Date Written: September 15, 2016
Abstract
The paper illustrates Egypt’s encounter with its competition law from its adoption of the law in 2005 all through 2015. This illustration is carried out through Egypt’s arch monopolist and shrewd businessman Ahmed Ezz and his steel empire, Ezzsteel, a company that became the largest in the Middle East and North Africa. Instead of being admired as a generator of local employment, taxable income, foreign dollars, and innovative production techniques, its doom had been long awaited. And with the adoption of a Competition Law, the potential tool for its execution was made available; so thought the masses. This reaction was brought about not because of a monopolistic position, nor because of a conduct as a dominant enterprise, but because of its owner, Ahmed Ezz’s political career. The case of Ahmed Ezz and Ezzsteel, has always been of symbolic importance. And the symbolism is uncanny, as seen through a decade of Egypt’s competition law handling of Ezzsteel.
Keywords: Egypt, Competition Law, Ezzsteel
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