The Corporate Affairs Ministry (MCA) on Tuesday extended the term of the 16-member Committee on Digital Competition Law (CDCL) up to December 31, 2023 . The extended term of this panel, which was tasked to submit a draft Bill of proposed digital competition law, had expired on October 31.

CDCL will have to submit its report to the government including a draft Digital Competition Act (DCA), MCA said in an order issued on Tuesday.

Uncertainty

The latest MCA move is significant as it comes at a time when there is lot of uncertainty in policy and industry circles over the government’s intent on enactment of a digital competition law, especially as the CDCL had not met even once in the last three months.

This inter-ministerial panel, which is now chaired by MCA Secretary Manoj Govil, was set up on February 6 and tasked to finalise its report and frame a draft for the proposed law in three months. However this committee had overshot the initial time allocated and the panel’s tenure has been extended several times since May 6.

CDCL has been tasked to examine the need for an ex-ante regulatory mechanism for digital markets through a separate legislation. It has also been tasked to prepare a draft DCA.

The panel will also have to examine whether existing provisions in the Competition Act and the rules and regulations framed under it are sufficient to deal with the challenges that have emerged from the digital economy. If it were to decide in favour of a separate digital competition law, then it would have to submit a draft Bill for the consideration of the government. 

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