Cabinet approves amendment of the Competition Act, 2002

The Union Cabinet has approved the proposal of the Ministry of Corporate Affairs to further amend the Competition Act, 2002, with a view to fine tune it and to meet the present day needs in the field of competition, in the light of the experiences gained in the actual working of the Competition Commission of India in the last few years.

Major amendments approved by the Cabinet relate to changing the definition of “turnover”, “Group”, reducing the overall time limit of finalization of combinations from 210 days to 180 days and insertion of a new Section 5A enabling the Central Government to lay down, in consultation with the Competition Commission of India, different thresholds for any class or classes of enterprises for the purpose of examining acquisitions, mergers and amalgamations by the Commission. The other amendments relate to procedural aspects in working of the Commission.

Background:

The proposal after its initial consideration in April, 2012 was referred to a Group of Ministers to examine it in details, with particular reference to jurisdiction of sectoral regulators on Competition related issues.

The Group of Ministers considered the issues referred to it by the Cabinet and while endorsing the original proposal also proposed amendment in the Competition Act requiring other regulators to mandatorily refer matters impinging on “Competition” to the Competition Commission of India, and vice-versa to concerned regulators by CCI, on matters relating to those regulators. To this extent the original proposal has been modified.