Ministry of Trade Commences Enforcement of Merger Filing Fees and Publication Requirements under the Competition Act Cap 66
Businesses contemplating mergers, acquisitions, restructurings, or joint ventures in Uganda
should take note of a significant shift in the enforcement of the country’s merger control
regime. The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Cooperatives (“the Ministry”) commenced the
strict implementation of key procedural requirements under the Competition Act, Cap 66
(the “Act”) and the Competition Regulations, 2025 (the “Regulations”), particularly in
relation to the payment of merger filing fees and the publication of merger notices.
These developments underscore the importance of incorporating competition law
compliance into transaction planning at an early stage.
Strict Enforcement of Merger Filing Fees
Although the Regulations introduced statutory filing fees for merger notifications upon their
commencement, the Ministry initially processed notifications submitted between January
and April 2026 without requiring payment of the prescribed fees.
However, effective May 2026, following the successful integration of the payment system by
the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA), the Ministry commenced the enforcement of the
statutory filing fees as a mandatory precondition for processing merger notifications, in line
with the Regulations. Accordingly, all parties seeking approval of mergers, acquisitions, or
joint ventures are now required to pay the applicable filing fee before their notification will
be accepted for review.
The filing fee payable is determined by the combined turnover or asset value of the parties to the transaction, as prescribed under Schedule 4, Part D of the Regulations.
| Combined Turnover/Assets (UGX) | Notification Fee (UGX) |
| UGX 500,000,001 to UGX 1 billion | Nil (Exclusion filing requiring approval from the Ministry) |
| UGX 1,000,000,001 to UGX 10 billion | UGX 1 million |
| UGX 10,000,000,001 to UGX 50 billion | UGX 2 million |
| Above UGX 50 billion | UGX 4 million |
Mandatory Publication of Merger Notices
A further development is that the Ministry is now enforcing the requirement for parties to
publish details of proposed mergers, acquisitions, and joint ventures in a newspaper of
wide circulation as part of the merger approval process. While recent practice has included
publication in the Uganda Gazette (including the notices relating to the proposed
acquisitions involving White Showmans Limited and International Hospital Kampala
Limited), the Act and the Regulations do not mandate publication in the Gazette. Rather,
the Regulations require publication in a newspaper of wide circulation in the community or
communities where the parties are located.
Accordingly, parties may satisfy this requirement by publishing the notice in any qualifying
daily newspaper, provided the publication is made within the prescribed timeframe.
This requirement is intended to promote transparency and provide interested parties with
an opportunity to raise any competition related concerns during the review process.
Confidentiality Exceptions
The legal framework provides avenues for merging parties to protect their proprietary
information. Under the Regulations, parties can formally make claims for non-disclosure to
request that commercially sensitive terms, trade secrets, or intellectual property be
omitted from these public notices.
In practice, this means that the Ministry and the Technical Committee are enjoined to
scrutinise each confidentiality request with a view to reconciling two competing
imperatives: on the one hand, the transparency that underpins public confidence in the
merger review process; on the other hand, the commercial confidentiality that is often vital
to the very viability of the transaction itself.
No Technical Committee Yet: Implications for Merging Parties
Parties should also note that the Technical Committee on Competition and Consumer
Protection, which is expected to provide technical guidance and support the Ministry in the
assessment of merger notifications, has not yet been fully constituted. This may have
implications for the manner in which merger reviews are technically assessed during the
interim period.
While this does not suspend the Ministry’s authority to receive and process merger
notifications, it may affect aspects of the technical evaluation of transactions during the
interim period. Businesses should therefore anticipate possible procedural developments as
Uganda’s competition law framework continues to be operationalised.
Should you have any questions or wish to discuss how these changes may affect your
current or proposed transactions, please do not hesitate to contact snampijja@kats.co.ug or nassozi@kats.co.ug. The Katende, Ssempebwa Advocates (KATS) competition team
would be pleased to assist. KATS is the LEX Africa member in Uganda.
