[Soumil Jhanwar is a 4th year B.A. LL.B. (Hons.) student at the National Law School of India University, Bengaluru] To establish bid rigging under section 3(3)(d) of the Competition Act, 2002 one must prove that the bidders had entered into an “agreement”, which has the effect of manipulation of bids. As per section 2(b) of the Act, an agreement need not be formal or written, and can be in the...
Platform Neutrality by E-Commerce Platforms: A Competition Law Requirement?
In January 2020, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) released a Market Study on E-Commerce. The Study focused on competition aspects pertaining to e-commerce marketplaces and platforms. It identified five issues in this respect: (i) platform neutrality; (ii) platform-to-business contract terms; (iii) platform price parity clauses; (iv) exclusive agreements; and (v) deep discounting. These...
Buyers’ Cartels in Indian Competition Law: Is it Time?
[Adyasha Samal is a student at the Hidayatullah National Law University] On 20 February 2020, the Ministry of Corporate affairs sought public comments on the Competition (Amendment) Bill 2020, which proposes sweeping substantive and procedural changes to the Competition Act 2002 (the “Act”). Among these is the significant inclusion of buyers’ cartels within the definition of cartels in section...
Commitment and Settlement Clause in the Competition Act: The Right Way Ahead?
[Vijayaditya Reddy and Manjri Singh are III year students at NALSAR University of Law] The Government has announced its plan to introduce a ‘commitment and settlement’ clause in the Competition Act, 2002 to allow for a quick resolution of anti-trust cases outside the otherwise lengthy adjudication process. This amendment is likely to take place in the upcoming winter session of Parliament. This...
Roadblocks to CCI’s Green Channel
[Jubair Bhati is a corporate lawyer and Mayank Sen a 5th year B.B.A., LL.B. (Hons.) student at School of Law, Raffles University, Neemrana (Rajasthan)] The Competition Commission of India (“CCI”) has recently notified amendments to its ‘Procedure in regard to the transaction of business relating to combinations Regulations, 2011’ (the “Combination Regulations”). The amendments to the Combination...
Section 26(1) of the Competition Act: Chance for Optimum Utilization of the Resources
[Sumit Jain is at the Centre for Competition Law and Economics (CCLE)] Section 26(1) of the Competition Act, 2002 allows the Competition Commission of India (CCI) to order an investigation (Director General’s (DG’s) investigation) in case of ‘prima facie’ violations of the Act. The said investigation is under no circumstance bound to influence the final decision of the CCI, and is only ordered to...
CCI on Whether Inefficiency or Delay in Service Amount to a Violation under the Competition Act
[Anirban Chanda is a 4th year B.A., LL.B. (Hons.) student and Anujay Shrivastava a 5th Year B.A., LL.B. (Hons.) student, both at the Jindal Global Law School] In its recent decision in National Consumers Co-operative Federation of India v. New Town Electric Supply Company Ltd. and West Bengal State Electricity Distribution Ltd. (NCCFI), the Competition Commission of India (CCI) has declared that...
Green Channel in Combination Regulations: Legislative Concerns
[Basu Chandola is a Research Assistant at the Jindal Initiative on Research in IP and Competition (JIRICO)] The Competition Law Review Committee, which was established in 2018 to ensure that competition law is strengthened and re-calibrated to promote best practices, submitted its report in July this year. The Committee has recommended the introduction of a “green channel” mechanism to deal with...
Specially Defined Relevant Markets: A Case for Reconsideration
[Kavya Lalchandani is a 3rd year Student at National Law University Odisha] Abuse of dominant position is defined under section 4 of the Competition Act, 2002 as the ability of an enterprise to behave independently of the competitive forces in the market and affect the consumers in its favour. It is a position of strength that is enjoyed by a particular enterprise in the relevant market. Being a...
Section 6(2a) of the Competition Act: The Invalidity Cloak
[Siddarth P. Chokkalingam is a 4th year student of the National Law School of India University, Bangalore] Section 6(2A) of the Competition Act, 2002 has been interpreted by the Competition Commission of India as well as the Supreme Court to impose standstill obligations on the parties, refraining them from consummating any combination, until the expiry of the 210 days mentioned therein or until...
Recent Comments