CCI to notify regulations soon

The country’s anti-trust body, Competition Commission of India (CCI), will notify the regulations to govern its functions in a day or two.

The competition regulator has become operational from today with the central government notifying sections three and four under the Competition Act. These two sections deal with anti-competitive agreements and abuse of dominant position.

Notifications of specific sections under the Competition Act along with the regulations governing CCI is a prerequisite before the anti-trust body takes up cases for investigation.

These regulations deal with predatory pricing, cartels (levying lesser penalty or waiving the penalty on cartel members who inform the Commission about cartelisation), general regulations on smooth and transparent functioning of the Commission and regulations on meetings like quorum.

The Competition Act through Section 36(1) has given powers to the Commission to regulate its own procedure while being guided by the principles of natural justice.

Though CCI has been receiving complaints from various quarters on cartelisation and abuse of dominance, nothing could be done so far as it did not have the powers to take action.Now the commission is ready to take up cases on the complaints being filed. However, these complaints need to be filed in a prescribed format, said a senior CCI official.

Also, added the official, the regulations are being notified in the public domain to make people aware of the ways through which they can file petitions in CCI.