Cartels can be kept out of the purview of the settlement

Before the Bill is taken up for passage by Parliament, the government plans to make changes and provisions to limit negotiated settlements to cases of dominance and abuse of anti-competitive agreements by excluding fraudulent practices such as bid-rigging plan to maintain.

In December, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance, headed by Jayant Sinha, suggested in its report that expanding the scope of the settlement scheme to include cartels could be considered. The government, however, has accepted the panel’s recommendation to compensate those affected by the anti-competitive conduct of those entities who get to negotiate and settle their cases with the regulator, said on condition of anonymity. said the person talking.

Accordingly, the original provisions in the Bill to provide for compensation in cases of settlements will now be worded differently. Changes are expected to be made in the bill before it is passed in the budget session of Parliament.

Experts said that cartelization is seen as a serious crime, which is probably why it has been kept out of the negotiated settlement scheme. “Already, there is a provision of leniency for cartels where the parties to the cartel explain their conduct and get relief from the penalty. Keeping the cartels out of the proposed settlement plan could be a balancing act, said Amol Kulkarni, director of research at CUTS International, a non-profit, non-governmental organization working on issues of public interest.

“Enhancing the provision of compensation and enabling the Competition Commission to order compensation to consumers, businesses and other entities affected by the anti-competitive conduct of entities, which is a major consumer-friendly step towards negotiation and settlement of cases with the regulator” Will be,” he said.

The Standing Committee proposed that there should be a provision in the law to properly compensate the affected consumers. The Center can only make some changes in a bill pending before Parliament.

An email sent to a spokesperson for the Corporate Affairs Ministry seeking comment on the story on Wednesday did not elicit a response till press time.

Separately, the ministry is holding consultations on whether there is a need for a Digital Competition Act, which was proposed in December in another report by the Standing Committee on Finance, and also to prepare a draft bill. The highlight of the standing committee report was the recommendation of a set of norms as do’s and don’ts for tech giants, who act as digital gatekeepers because of their position in the market.

The idea of ​​this consultation is to build broad consensus within government about the need for a further law on competition in digital markets and to frame it as sectoral regulations on the digital economy are still developing. NITI Aayog, Department of Economic Affairs, Department of Consumer Affairs, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade and Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology are part of the discussion.