In competition law, there seems to be a duopoly situation as far as the regulatory sphere is concerned. The Competition Commission of India (CCI) is already in place with several provisions of the Competition Act, 2002 having been notified to take effect from May 20, 2009. Moreover, the CCI has also begun acting on cases involving cartelisation. Curiously enough, the Business Standard reports...
Imminence of Merger Control Provisions
Although the draft of the merger control regulations under the Competition Act, 2002 were issued as early as January 2008 (more than a year ago), they are yet to be enacted. Specifically, there were concerns from industry that the scope and ambit of the regulations were too wide and onerous. Now that the new Government is in place with a new minister at the helm of affairs, it has been reported...
Competition Commission: Delays in Merger Control
Although the Competition Commission is expected to become functional soon, it appears from press reports that its role pertaining to merger control will commence only in due course and not immediately. The draft of the Competition Commission of India (Combinations) Regulations (discussed earlier on this Blog) is still subject to discussion and finalisation. Until then, M&A transactions...
Imminent Developments in Competition Law
Guest contributor R.V. Anuradha points to a news report indicating that the long-awaited Competition Commission of India (CII) would be functional on April 1, 2009. This will replace the existing Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Commission (MRTPC) signifying an important step in Indian competition law. As the news report states, that day will also mark another milestone, which is the...
Anti-Competitive Agreements: What can we Expect from the Competition Commission?
(We are very pleased to welcome Farhad Sorabjee as a guest contributor on the Blog. Mr. Sorabjee is a partner at the Mumbai offices of J. Sagar Associates and leads the firm’s competition practice. His contributions will certainly bolster the competition law focus on this Blog. In the following post, he considers the nature of penalties that competition authorities worldwide have imposed under...
Links on Competition Law
(The following post contributed by R.V. Anuradha points to some recent information and materials pertaining to competition law) 1. What will the Competition Commission of India (CCI) look like? LiveMint considers some of the names of people being considered for membership of the CCI. 2. Other interesting developments in the recent past are a US Department of Justice (DOJ) paper on Unilateral...
China’s Anti-Monopoly Law
China’s new Anti-Monopoly Law took effect on August 1, 2008. Financial Times, in a news report published last week (July 28, 2008), has a brief comparison between the Indian and Chinese positions on antitrust. The report observes: “Tough antitrust laws that take effect in China this week and India later this year could delay or thwart high-profile cross-border mergers and acquisitions, lawyers...
India’s New Competition Law: A Comparative Assessment
Antitrust & Competition Policy Blog points to a new article by Delhi School of Economics Professor Aditya Bhattacharjea on India’s New Competition Law: A Comparative Assessment in the Oxford Journal of Competition Law and Economics. The abstract is set out below: This paper critically examines India’s new Competition Act. I begin by examining the working of its predecessor, the...
Competition Commission & Global Mergers
There has been a coordinated and consistent move by industry to ensure that merger regulations that have been proposed by the Competition Commission do not cover global mergers whose implications in India are not substantial. We have discussed this issue in the past on this blog (here, here and here). In fact, the draft regulations do contain some de minimis exceptions that seemingly placate...
Competition Act and Merger Regulation
Today’s Economic Times carries a column by Jaishree Vyavaharkar & David Jacobs of Baker & McKenzie analyzing the provisions of the Act and the recent draft regulations on business combinations, with specific reference to implications on foreign investors. Here are some excerpts: “A fundamental concern for foreign investors was the lack of domestic nexus in the Act. Effectively, deals...
Recent Comments