CCI dispute settlement 2.0

CCI dispute settlement 2.0

Subject: Economy

Section: Monetary Policy

The amended Competition Act, 2023 grants CCI enhanced powers that are far-reaching, designed to promote more effective market regulation and facilitate the ease of doing business in India.

Key Points:

• Earlier the prosecution of anti-competitive practices took many years. This is to be changed with an approach of discussion to achieve quick and timely action by means of:
  • Entering into settlements or getting commitments from potential wrongdoers,
  • to collect penalties and swiftly correct market conditions
• Mechanism is particularly relevant in digital markets, where timely intervention and correction are critical
• CCI to use a carrot and stick approach:
  • CCI is now empowered to impose heavy monetary penalties on companies up to 10 per cent of their global income across all businesses.
  • Penalties can be avoided by offering meaningful solutions through the settlement and commitments (S&C)
• Act requires parties to offer commitments any time before receiving the Director-General’s investigation report and offer settlements any time before the CCI passes a final order in a case.
• Some concerns about the changes:
  • The provisions relating to settlements and commitments (S&C) are yet to be notified and remain unenforced.
  • Companies involved in existing cases face problem in absence of S&C guidelines.