The Competition Commission of India (CCI) on August 23 laid down two draft regulations for public consultation: The Competition Commission of India (Settlement) Regulations, 2023 [PDF] The Competition Commission of India (Commitment) Regulations, 2023 [PDF] Interested stakeholders can submit their feedback to these two draft regulations over here. The last date to submit feedback is September 13, 2023. What are these two regulations about: The two regulations lay out the details of the settlement and commitment framework that was introduced as part of the Competition (Amendment) Act, 2023 in April. This Act amended the Competition Act of 2002, aiming to bring the competition regime up to speed with the changes in how businesses operate currently, especially in the digital markets. How will settlements or commitments work in competition cases: If entities are found to engage in anticompetitive agreements or abuse of dominance by the CCI, these entities can propose a settlement for the alleged contraventions at any time after the Director General presents their report and before the CCI passes an antitrust order. Entities can also propose commitments in respect of the alleged contraventions at any time after a prima facie order is passed by the CCI and before the Director General presents their report. CCI can accept or reject the proposed settlement or commitments after taking into consideration the nature, gravity and impact of the alleged contraventions and the effectiveness of the proposed settlement or commitments. CCI can also revoke any acceptance if it finds irregularity, and can impose a fine…
