Keeping up with Competition - March 2024
A monthly newsletter by Axiom5
Welcome to the sixth issue of Keeping up with Competition, our monthly newsletter. We recap the events in the world of Indian competition law and policy in February 2024.
Summaries of orders passed by the CCI may be accessed here.
CCI proposes changes to rules on confidentiality
The CCI published draft amendments to Regulations 35, 37, and 50 of the Competition Commission of India (General) Regulations 2009 (General Regulations) along with a background note for stakeholder consultation on 26 February 2024. The amendments further streamline the procedure on claiming commercially sensitive information in CCI proceedings as confidential and submitting to confidentiality rings for their equitable resolution. Notably, parties desirous of accessing confidential information/documents of each other (that the DG relied on for its assessment) would now have to request for a confidentiality ring to be set up within seven days of receiving the DG's investigation report. The stakeholders may provide their comments/inputs by March 27, 2024. A detailed assessment of the regulations, with our comments, is available here.
Lesser penalty regime introduced as Section 33 of the Competition (Amendment) Act, 2023 gets notified
The CCI also notified the CCI (Lesser Penalty) Regulations, 2024 (LPR 2024) on 20 February 2024. The LPR 2024 aims to operationalise the changes introduced by the Competition (Amendment) Act, 2023, and enhance cartel enforcement efforts by incentivizing entities/individuals involved in cartels to provide information and cooperate with investigations. They offer additional penalty reductions to leniency applicants involved in a cartel investigation who subsequently provide information about a second cartel. Substantial stakeholder suggestions have been incorporated into LPR 2024, including rationalised procedures for applying for lesser penalty and lesser penalty plus, resolution of ambiguity concerning the finality of a determination, and instilling procedural fairness. However, concerns remain regarding the wide discretion of the CCI to consider ‘other’ relevant factors when evaluating an application for lesser penalty or lesser penalty plus, and to adjudicate claims of confidentiality. A detailed assessment of the regulations, with our comments, is available here.
Merger control - a snapshot
The CCI approved 9 combinations, 2 of which were under the Green Channel route. The CCI also published 10 detailed orders in February (the summaries of these orders are available here). Further, the CCI received 8 new notices in February.
Behavioural cases
The CCI issued 2 closure orders in February. In Vivek Gupta and New Okhla Industrial Development Authority, it observed that it was a civil dispute without any larger competition concern. In Ayudha Foundation, the CCI noted that there was insufficient evidence to form a prima facie view on contraventions, and in any case the opposite party was not in a position of dominance.