Parliamentary committee urges anti-trust law updates at the earliest from Digital Competition Committee

CCI

The standing committee on finance on July 27 asked the committee on digital competition law to apprise them of their findings on anti-trust law in the digital market at the earliest.

In February, the Union government set up a committee on digital competition law to examine the need for a separate law on competition in digital markets. A report from the committee is awaited.

The parliamentary panel also emphasised that ex-ante evaluation is to ensure that digital markets do not end up being monopolised. Ex-ante is a method of evaluation wherein the regulator predicts a violation of anti-trust law before it could happen, based on a company's behaviour.

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has established the Digital Market and Data Unit (DMDU) to facilitate cross-divisional exchange and act as a nodal point for stakeholder engagement on digital market matters.

The panel said DMDU holds significant importance going forth in the future as digital markets display characteristics distinct from traditional markets. "It is of utmost importance that they (digital markets) are properly governed so as to curb the sharp 'tipping’ of markets leading to the emergence of one or two leading players in a short span of time,” it noted.

The parliamentary committee has also urged the Union government to finalise the digital competition bill at the earliest in order to check the anti-competitive practices plaguing the digital markets.

The committee noted that the government had earlier informed that the digital competition law would be finalised by May 2023. However, this ETA could not be met as the deliberations are still ongoing, prompting the committee to demand for the law to be finalised at the earliest.

In December, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance released a report that, apart from the formation of a Digital Competition Law, recommended defining Big Tech companies as Systemically Important Digital Intermediaries (SIDIs) on the basis of their revenues, market capitalisation and end users.