Government forms panel on digital competition law

The government has set up a panel for examining the various regulatory aspects in dealing with challenges emerging from the digital economy.

According to a report on NewsDrum, the panel will be chaired by Corporate Affairs Secretary Manoj Govil. 

One of the main tasks of the panel is to review whether existing provisions in the Competition Act, 2022, and the rules and regulations framed therein, are sufficient to deal with the challenges that have emerged from the digital economy.

It will also study the international best practices on regulation in the field of the digital markets as well as other regulatory regimes/ institutional mechanisms/ government policies regarding competition in the digital markets. It will further overlook the practices of leading players/Systemically Important Digital Intermediaries (SIDIs) which limit or have the potential to cause harm in the digital markets.

The panel will also examine the need for an ex-ante regulatory mechanism for digital markets through separate legislation.

This comes just two months after a Parliamentary panel proposed having a new digital competition law to curb anti-competitive practices in the digital markets. 

The CCI (Competition Commission of India) will also be a part of the panel, according to an order issued by the Corporate Affairs Ministry. The panel will also have experts from various fields like Niti Aayog, the Department of Commerce, Department of Economic Affairs, Department of Consumer Affairs, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade, and the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.

Other members of the committee are Nasscom Co-Founder and Indian Angel Network Chairman Saurabh Srivastava, Professor of Economics (Retd) Delhi School of Economics Aditya Bhattacharjea, Khaitan and Co's Haigreve Khaitan, IKDHVAJ Advisers LLP's Harsha Vardhana Singh, Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas and Co's Pallavi Shardul Shroff, P&A Law Offices' Anand S Pathak, Axiom5 Law Chamber's Rahul Rai and a corporate affairs ministry's joint secretary.

The order further said that the panel's chairperson can co-opt any other person as a member/special invitee as and when required.

Info@BestMediaInfo.com