The Hindu Business Line : A place for competition

We have the Competition Act, 2002. It is "a modern legislation that incorporates the broadly accepted principles of anti-trust, such as provisions prohibiting anti-competitive agreements, including cartels and abuse of dominant position, and regulation of mergers." Thus noted Vinod Dhall in a speech on March 17. He is Member and Acting Chairperson, Competition Commission of India (www.competition-commission-india.nic.in).

The body was statutorily established in October 2003, but has "only one member, and a very small complement staff," said Dhall. "It has not been able to commence enforcement work because the concerned section of the Act could not be notified by the Government so far, due to earlier litigation in the Supreme Court for consideration of required amendments to the Act. These amendments are now being introduced in Parliament in the current session."

Even as other matters compete for the attention of our legislators, you may equip yourself with a knowledge of the `policy, issues, and developments' in this field by reading Competition Law in India, by T. Ramappa, from Oxford University Press (www.oup.com).

Interestingly, the book is dedicated to "the enterprising spirit of those intrepid merchants of the Indus Valley who engaged in international commerce centuries ago."

The new Act was supposed to be a replacement for the MRTP (Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices) Act of 1969. However, on March 14 one read about how the Water Transport Workers Federation of India has appealed for action under the MRTP Act to stop Dubai Ports World from taking over the container terminals being operated at Chennai and the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) by Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company (P&O).

In 2005, the MRTP Commission disposed of 282 cases, informed the Minister of Company Affairs, Mr Prem Chand Gupta, to the Lok Sabha on March 17.

Ramappa argues that there are areas such as telecom, professional services, multi-disciplinary partnerships and Internet trading, which need further consideration. It may alarm CAs to know that "the subject of competition in professions has not been given the attention it requires."

Competition fights are hot news. `Several coffee shops suspected of violating Competition Law,' reported Channel News Asia, Singapore on March 10. `Law to safeguard tourists proposed,' notes Khaleej Times, United Arab Emirates `9 hours ago'. And Severin Carrell wrote on March 19, in The Independent (http://enjoyment.independent.co.uk) about the complaints against Coke in India.

Carrell narrates the case of Raquel Chavez, which went through Mexico's Free Competition Commission. Chavez who "owns a tiny shop in a poor suburb of Mexico City" cost Coca-Cola $68 million in fines last November when the company illegally tried to stop her from selling a rival brand!

Make place for `competition law' in your shelf.

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