Stakeholders want 5 more months to respond to draft of Digital Competition Bill

The draft of the Digital Competition Bill was released for consultation on March 12

A group of 47 organisations, civil society bodies and individuals has written a letter to the corporate affairs ministry, seeking a five-month extension to offer inputs on the draft Digital Competition Bill, which aims to regulate Big Tech.

The government recently extended the consultation deadline for the proposed law from April 15 to May 15.

"We submit that the present deadline to submit comments by 15th May 2024 is insufficient to make a nuanced and informed submission, considering the technical complexity of the subject matter, cross-cutting impact of the Bill and regulatory overlaps," the letter said.

The draft, which was released for consultation on March 12, has additional compliance requirements aimed at major technology companies, which the bill refers to as Systematically Significant Digital Enterprises (SSDEs).

A company that offers "core digital services" can be declared an SSDE based on its global turnover, gross merchandise value, number of users in India and so on, the bill says.

The signatories of the open letter include the industry body Broadband India Forum, which counts Amazon, Google and Meta among its members. Other signatories include organisations such as Internet Freedom Foundation, DeepStrat, EsyaCentre and others.

"The bill will impact various sectors and domains of the digital economy, including user experience, data protection and security, supply chains, investments, business costs for MSMEs and consumer affordability.

“It is also likely to impact non-digital domains, owing to their inextricable relationship with digital counterparts, and thus could consequently impact jobs and income generation opportunities created across sectors," the letter said.

Recently, startups such as PhonePe have raised concerns that the proposed law will not only impact big players but also MSMEs, startups, etc.

At an April 3 roundtable on the bill organised by CCAOI, PhonePe CEO Sameer Nigam said the bill opted for a grab-all characterisation of what constitutes a systemically important tech company. Such an "open-ended" definitions and phrases were creating a "chilling effect" on the startup ecosystem.

Earlier, Indian companies such as Swiggy, Flipkart, Oyo and Zomato  said they were not in favour of an ex-ante regulation, as it "would cause a chilling effect on the startup industry."

"Ex-ante regulations may pose a risk of incorrect/misplaced regulation of smaller homegrown players which provide digital technology-enabled products and services," Swiggy said.