Keeping up with Competition - July 2024
A monthly newsletter by Axiom5
Welcome to the tenth issue of Keeping up with Competition, our monthly newsletter. We recap the events in the world of Indian competition law and policy in June 2024.
Detailed summaries of orders passed by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) can be accessed here.
The CCI unveils proposed amendments to the Competition Commission of India (General) Regulations, 2009
On 6 June 2024, the CCI published the proposed amendments to the General Regulations, 2009 (Proposed Amendments). The Proposed Amendments aim to align the existing General Regulations with the Competition (Amendment) Act, 2023 and streamline procedural efficiency. Comments on the draft amendments were invited until 8 July 2024.
Key changes that are proposed include the expanded definitions for 'Expert', 'Interlocutory Application', and introduction of 'Miscellaneous Application'. The amendments also propose to allow legal counsels to certify translated documents and impose additional requirements for filing information or references, including affidavits. Furthermore, the amendments propose the expansion of the list of individuals authorized to sign information, references, or replies, as well as the introduction of requirements for authorized representatives. Timelines for various processes would be revised to expedite proceedings, with additional provisions for formal relationships with government bodies and appointment of monitoring agencies by the CCI.
The CCI Has a New Secretary: Mr. Inder Pal Singh Bindra
The CCI appointed Mr. Inder Pal Singh Bindra, an Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer, as its new Secretary. Mr. Bindra replaced Ms. Anupama Anand, who had resigned after her appointment in September 2023 for a three-year term.
Prior to his appointment as Secretary, Mr. Bindra served in the income tax department for three years.
Merger control - a snapshot
The CCI approved 8 combinations and published 6 detailed orders in June (the summaries of these orders are available here). The CCI received 9 new notices, of which 1 notice was under the green channel. The CCI also invalidated 2 notices.
Behavioural cases
The CCI issued closure orders in 3 cases. In Uday B Bhatt, the CCI observed that the Competition Act, 2002 (Act) does not provide for inquiry into cases of joint/collective abuse of dominant position and found no evidence of cartelization among the parties under Section 3 of the Act, and accordingly closed the proceedings under Section 26(2) of the Act. In Kannada Film Chamber of Commerce and Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce & Ors, the CCI closed the proceedings under Section 26(2) of the Act due to insufficient credible information from the Informant despite seeking additional details. In Rachna Khaira, CCI identified Google's dominance in India's Android app store market but dismissed abuse allegations citing lack of evidence: Informant’s reliance on version of Truecaller which is not on Play store, alongside competition from similar apps and voluntary user data sharing with Truecaller.