Competition Law

Govt notifies amendments in competition law related to CCI probe procedure

The government has notified a provision in the amended competition law related to investigation procedure whereby regulator CCI can issue show cause notices to parties concerned as well as grant them time to respond before passing a final order. The Competition Act, implemented by the corporate affairs ministry, was amended in April 2023 and subsequently, various provisions as well as related regulations have been notified. In a notification, the ministry said "provisions of clause (f) of section 19 of the said Act shall come into force," from September 19. This section pertains to the procedure for investigation by the Competition Commission of India (CCI). Upon completion of the investigation, the regulator can pass an order closing the matter or pass an order under Section 27. Under Section 27, CCI can penalise entities for anti-competitive practices. "Provided that before passing such order, the Commission shall issue a show cause notice indicating the contraventions alleged t

CAIT demands immediate enforcement of e-comm laws on Amazon and Flipkart

CCI launched its investigation into Amazon and Flipkart in 2020 for allegedly pushing select sellers to the top of search results, while sidelining others

UK's CMA clears Microsoft's staff hiring, partnership with Inflection AI

The CMA said that even before being bought, Inflection had a small portion of UK visits for chatbots and AI tools and, unlike its rivals, couldn't significantly grow or maintain its chatbot users

Intellectual property and competition law: Two sides of the same coin

The two codes are crucial for safeguarding public interest and fostering economic growth with innovation

Managing competition in a digital world

The internet governance model offers an alternative model to address the challenges posed by a network economy

Digital Competition Bill could negatively impact MSMEs, study finds

'Learn from the experience of the European Union and its experiment with the Digital Markets Act'

New competition law faces a litmus test in Google Play billing case

India's competition law was originally designed for brick-and-mortar companies. It was not in tune with the digital revolution

Govt-appointed panel CDCL moots ex-ante competition rules for big tech

A government-appointed panel has proposed ex-ante regulations for large digital enterprises to curb any possible anti-competitive business practices. The Committee on Digital Competition Law (CDCL) came out with its report and draft legislation on Tuesday and has sought public comments. The panel was set up in February last year following a Parliamentary panel proposing to have a new digital competition law to curb anti-competitive practices in the digital markets. Among others, the committee has suggested an agile and principle-based framework for ex-ante obligations under the draft competition bill. Vaibhav Choukse, Partner at JSA Advocates & Solicitors, said the committee has recommended the "ex-ante legislation for pre-identified large digital enterprise i.e., big techs, with significant presence to proactively monitor their behaviour in the market".

The Digital Competition Law: Big Tech firms opposed to ex-ante norms

Proposed Bill requires digital companies to notify Competition Commission of India that it fulfills criteria to qualify as a Systemically Significant Digital Enterprises based on criteria set in Bill

Digital competition law committee asked to consider MCA's draft bill

Proposes digital entities to ensure interoperability, data sharing, portability

FTC launches inquiry into AI deals such as Microsoft's OpenAI partnership

US antitrust enforcers are opening an investigation into the relationships between leading artificial intelligence startups such as ChatGPT-maker OpenAI and Anthropic and the tech giants that have invested billions of dollars into them. We're scrutinising whether these ties enable dominant firms to exert undue influence or gain privileged access in ways that could undermine fair competition, said Lina Khan, chair of the US Federal Trade Commission, in opening remarks at a Thursday AI forum. The FTC said it has issued compulsory orders to five companies requiring them to provide information regarding investments and partnerships. All of the leading cloud providers Amazon, Google and Microsoft have made huge investments into AI firms, most notably Microsoft's close partnership with OpenAI. Both Google and Amazon have made multibillion-dollar deals with Anthropic, another San Francisco-based AI startup formed by former leaders at OpenAI. The European Union and the United Kingdom hav

No headway on digital competition law as committee term ends

The panel is looking at various regulatory aspects in dealing with challenges emerging from the digital economy

Ansuman Pattnaik to replace Atul Verma as CCI's new head of investigations

Pattnaik has 28 years of experience working in various positions in the Indian government. He also worked at the CCI during 2014-2019 in its investigations unit and was head of the unit briefly

From local to global: Competition Law gained much traction in 2023

The year 2023 has seen Competition Law gaining traction both in India and globally

Alphabet loses Google Play Store antitrust battle with Epic Games

Epic largely lost a similar challenge to Apple Inc.'s app store two years ago and both companies have asked the US Supreme Court to review their dispute

AI and antitrust: Balancing innovation with competition

As India's economy and businesses undergo a profound AI transition, the implications of Competition law are also becoming increasingly concerning

CCI becomes member of International Competition Network's steering group

Competition Commission of India (CCI) on Wednesday said it has become a member of the steering group of the International Competition Network (ICN). The ICN comprises 140 competition agencies from 130 countries. "CCI joins the prestigious Steering group of International Competition Network (ICN) as a member at the ICN Annual Conference 2023 at Barcelona, Spain after consistent efforts. "ICN consists of 140 competition agencies and is guided by its apex body -- Steering Group of 18 members," according to a post by CCI on social media platform X. An official said this is the first time that the CCI has become a member of the ICN's steering group and the membership is for two years. The ICN provides competition authorities with a specialised yet informal venue for maintaining regular contacts and addressing practical competition concerns, according to its website.

CCI seeks inputs on draft to offer incentives to cos for info on cartels

Competition Commission has sought stakeholders' comments on draft leniency plus regulations that will offer incentives to companies already under probe for cartelisation for providing information about other cartels. As incentives, the entity giving information could get an additional reduction in monetary fine could be as much as 30 per cent with regard to the first cartel besides a reduction in penalty of up to 100 per cent in respect of newly disclosed cartels. The framework is designed to create an additional incentive for companies to cooperate with antitrust authorities in identifying and addressing cartel activities, ultimately promoting fair competition. The Competition (Amendment) Act, 2023 has introduced 'lesser penalty plus' and withdrawal of 'lesser penalty'/'lesser penalty plus' applications in the existing framework, to incentivise an existing LP applicant in respect of the first cartel to give full, true and vital disclosures about a second cartel unknown to the ...

Striking right balance for sustainability, competition crucial: NCLAT chair

He was delivering the keynote address at the eighth BRICS International Competition Conference 2023 in Delhi

Amazon punishes seller for 5 cent price cut on competitor's site: FTC Case

Amazon has vowed to challenge the FTC lawsuit in court, adding that it "radically" departs from the agency's mission of protecting consumers