Govt relaxes combinations norm under competition law

Any individual or enterprise that is party to a combination will not be required to seek approval of fair trade regulator CCI within 30 days of finalising the particular deal, the government said today.
Currently, combinations beyond a certain threshold need to be intimated to the Competition Commission of India (CCI) within 30 days of being finalised by the parties concerned.
Now, the corporate affairs ministry has relaxed the norm following stakeholders' raising concerns about constraints faced by them in complying with the requirement.
"Every person or enterprise who is a party to a combination" has been exempted from giving notice to the CCI within 30 days. The exemption would be in place for five years, an official release said.

The measure has been taken to alleviate the concerns of stakeholders who felt constrained by 30 days deadline stipulated in the Competition Act for submission of notices of combination to the CCI, it added.
The CCI comes under the administrative control of the corporate affairs ministry.

The move is in line with the government's objective of providing ease of doing business and is expected to bring about immense relief in cases of combinations covered under the Competition Act, 2002, the release said.
According to the release, India has a suspensory regime wherein combinations come into effect only after either 210 days have passed from the day on which the notice has been given to the CCI or when the regulator has passed an order.

"In most jurisdictions with such suspensory regimes, notice of combinations can be given by enterprises to competition authorities at their convenient point of time but prior to giving effect to the said combination.
"With this measure, the combinations regime in India will be in line with the global best practices and enterprises will be free to submit notice of combinations to the Commission at a time convenient to them but prior to giving effect to such combinations," the release said.
Enterprises are liable for penalty in case they fail to give notice to the CCI before bringing into effect a particular combination.