EU-India Competition Week: Need innovative tools to regulate digital markets, says CCI chief Sangeeta Verma

Competition agencies need to devise new and innovative tools to address the challenges posed by digital markets to ensure faster market correction, the Competition Commission of India’s (CCI’s) Acting Chairperson Sangeeta Verma has said.

In the backdrop of the rapidly evolving digital landscape that is posing new challenges for competition law enforcers, there is also a need for competition agencies to apply the existing instruments suitably, where necessary, Verma said in her opening remarks at the fifth edition of the EU-India Competition Week on Monday.

The EU-India Competition week was jointly inaugurated today by Verma and Seppo Nurmi, Deputy Head of Delegation of the EU to India & Bhutan.

Verma also expressed confidence that the practical insights that would be shared by experts from the EU in designing and implementing their digital regulations will lead to very engaging discussions during the event.

She said the topics to be discussed with the EU experts this week are not only of great contemporary relevance and significance but are also futuristic.

Verma said the technical cooperation program has provided a platform for dialogue and exchange of good practices between competition authority officials and experts from the EU and India.

The Competition Week is being held from December 5-7 2022 at CCI headquarters in New Delhi.

In 2013, CCI and Directorate General for Competition (DG COMP) of the European Commission signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for technical cooperation that has provided a platform for dialogue and exchange of best practices between EU and India.

EU-India Ties

The Deputy Head of the EU delegation Nurmi highlighted that topics related to application of antitrust laws to the digital economy/markets, introduction of the EU’s Digital Markets Act, investigations into hub-and-spoke agreements and competition law, and sustainable co-operation are “timely” and would form part of the discussions this week. 

“The 5th India-EU Competition Week provides a platform to share views from two key economies on antitrust action in digital and technology markets as we attempt to find answers to these challenges and provides an opportunity to discuss how regulation can supplement competition enforcement, as the EU has set the Digital Markets Act in motion”, Nurmi said.

Digital Markets Act 

In the recent past, there has been a clamour to regulate Big Tech through ex-ante regulatory framework and a number of jurisdictions have either proposed or already put in place such mechanism for regulating Big Tech. The EU has put in place Digital Markets Act (DMA) for regulating digital monopolies at ex-ante level.

The DMA introduces rules for platforms that act as “gatekeepers” in the digital sector. These platforms have a significant impact on the internal market, serve as an important gateway for business users to reach their end users, and enjoy an entrenched and durable position. 

This can grant them the power to act as private rule-makers and to function as bottlenecks between businesses and end users. The DMA aims at preventing gatekeepers from imposing unfair conditions on businesses and end users and at ensuring the openness of important digital services. 

CCI and Big Tech

CCI has recently taken Big Tech such as Google and MakeMyTrip head on by imposing heavy penalties for abuse of their dominant position.

A parliamentary panel headed by Jayant Sinha is likely to submit its report to the Parliament on “Anti-competitive Practices by Big Tech”.

The panel is likely to recommend ex ante legislations for effectively regulating these companies in India.

“Such framework will strengthen the enforcement actions of CCI and will usher market corrections at a faster pace,” added a source close to the development.

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