CCI issues guidelines for competition assessment of laws

NEW DELHI: Taking forward its efforts to ensure healthy competition in the market place, anti-trust regulator CCI has come out with guidelines for competition assessment of economic legislations and bills.

In this regard, the watchdog would soon set up a panel of five to seven institutions to carry out an initial competition assessment of economic legislations.

The latest move also comes at a time when the regulator has stepped up efforts to spread awareness about competition norms besides cracking down on entities indulging in unfair business practices.

With the new guidelines, CCI is looking to facilitate an "objective and transparent assessment of select economic legislations enacted by Parliament or state legislatures and also the economic bills pending or coming up before them in near future from competition perspective".

In case the assessment finds that there are issues related to competition in a particular legislation, then CCI would suggest necessary modifications to the relevant stakeholders.

Competition Commission of India (CCI) Member MS Sahoo said that it is an international best practice to enable people responsible for making legislations to prevent anti- competitive elements sneaking into the law inadvertently or without adequate justification.

As per the guidelines, which would be effective from January 1 next year, the assessment would look at aspects that could cause appreciable adverse effect on competition in the relevant market in India.

It would also be assessed whether any provision in the legislation could "restrict the freedom of players in the market and choices of consumers or is in disharmony with the objectives of Competition Act.

A panel of 5-7 institutions would carry out the initial competition assessment of the legislations referred to it. The panel would be required to submit its assessment report on a particular legislation within 15 days of receiving the same.

The institutions must have expertise in law, economics, finance or management and they would be part of the panel initially for a three-year period.

The Commission would decide on the legislations that need to be taken up for assessment.

Many jurisdictions, including Australia, have programmes to evaluate existing and upcoming economic legislations from the perspective of competition.