Competition (Amendment) Bill, 2022

Competition (Amendment) Bill, 2022

Context:

  • The long-awaited Bill to amend the Competition Act, 2002, was finally tabled in the Lok Sabha recently.

About

  • The Indian Competition Act was passed in 2002, but it wasn’t until seven years later that it actually took effect.
  • Anti-competitive agreements, abuse of dominance, and combinations are the three main anti-competitive market activities that the Competition Commission investigates.
  • Changes became necessary to maintain and foster market competitiveness since the dynamics of the market changed quickly as a result of technological breakthroughs, artificial intelligence, and the growing relevance of factors other than price.
  • As a result, a review committee was formed in 2019 and made numerous significant adjustments. Recently, the Lok Sabha received the long-awaited Bill to modify the Competition Act, 2002.

Challenges:

  • A combination can be any purchase, merger, or amalgamation. Parties engaging in merger, acquisition, or amalgamation are currently only required to notify the Commission of a combination on the basis of “asset” or “turnover,” according to Section 5.
  • A “deal value” barrier is proposed to be added under the new Bill. Any transaction with a deal value greater than Rs. 2,000 crore and if either party has “significant business operations in India” must be reported to the Commission.
  • The Commission is required to create regulations that specify the criteria for determining whether a company has “substantial business operations in India.”

 

Source The Hindu