CCI chief calls for devising new tools to check anti-competitive practices

CII's acting-chairperson Verma said fair-trade watchdogs need to devise new tools and develop innovative perspectives on application of the existing instruments amid rapidly evolving digital landscape

Competition Commission of India acting-chairperson Sangeeta Verma on Monday said fair-trade watchdogs need to devise new tools and develop innovative perspectives on the application of the existing instruments amid rapidly evolving digital landscape.

Against the backdrop of the rapidly changing and evolving digital landscape that is posing new challenges for competition law enforcers and questioning the traditional parameters of competition regulation, she highlighted the need for competition agencies to develop innovative perspectives on how to apply the existing instruments suitably and devise new tools.

She was speaking at the fifth edition of EU-India Competition week.

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

The fifth EU-India competition week, to be held from December 5-7, was inaugurated at Competition Commission of India's (CCI) HQ by Verma and Seppo Nurmi, Deputy Head of Delegation of the EU to India & Bhutan.

The practical insights shared by experts from the EU in designing and implementing their digital regulations will lead to very engaging discussions, she added.

The Deputy Head of Delegation of the EU Nurmi said, the topics such as experiences in applying antitrust laws to the digital economy/markets, introduction of the EU's digital markets act, investigating hub-and-spoke agreements & other atypical cartels and competition law & sustainable co-operation are the agenda items that are going to be covered in the competition 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, he added.

In 2013, CCI and Directorate General for Competition of the European Commission signed an Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to strengthen international cooperation and share information related to fair trade practices.