No headway on digital competition law as committee term ends

The panel is looking at various regulatory aspects in dealing with challenges emerging from the digital economy

The government-appointed panel tasked to prepare a report on digital competition law failed to finalise it in December when another of its many extensions ended.

Led by Corporate Affairs Secretary Manoj Govil, the panel was formed in February 2023 with an original mandate for three months. However, it has faced delays and its tenure has been extended multiple times. According to sources, the committee has got six extensions and is expected to get another. They, however, said that the panel has not met in several months and is yet to reach any consensus on having ex-ante regulations for big tech. 

“There is a debate on whether these regulations will have a negative impact on innovation. A balance between innovation and regulation is yet to be achieved,” said a person close to the matter.

The Ministry of Corporate Affairs and the Competition Commission of India (CCI) did not respond to an email query from Business Standard.

Stakeholder discussions on the contours of digital competition law were concluded in March.

The committee includes CCI chairperson Ravneet Kaur and Saurabh Srivastava, chairman, Indian Angel Network and cofounder of the industry body NASSCOM.

Among the law firms on the panel are Haigreve Khaitan of Khaitan & Co, Pallavi Shardul Shroff of Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co, Anand Pathak, P&A Law Offices, Rahul Rai, Axiom5 Law Chamber.

A parliamentary committee on finance in its report tabled in December 2022 suggested the need to have a digital competition law to curb anti-competitive practices in the digital markets. The panel is tasked to examine various regulatory aspects in dealing with challenges emerging from the digital economy.  It will review whether the existing provisions in the Competition Act, 2022 and the rules and regulations framed under it are sufficient to deal with the challenges that have emerged from the digital economy.

Domestic startups and news publishers had made the presentation sharing their views on the need for a digital competition act on March 4. Representatives of Google, Amazon, Meta, Apple, Twitter and Netflix took part in the stakeholder discussions, besides domestic companies including Zomato, Oyo, Swiggy, Paytm, Makemytrip and Flipkart, among others.

Earlier, several startups and news publishers had voiced concerns over their non-inclusion in the committee, saying the panel seemed to be dominated by corporate lawyers, many of them representing Big Tech. Following this, many domestic startups and news publishers were also invited to share their views with the panel.

The discussion around the digital competition law comes amid global scrutiny of Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon, and others for allegedly abusing their market position using chunks of user data. Last year, the CCI slapped Google, in two separate cases, with penalties of Rs 936.44 crore and Rs 1,337.76 crore.

HIT REFRESH

• December 2022: Jayant Sinha-led standing Committee suggested need for a digital competition law
• February 2023: A committee led by MCA secretary formed to look into ex-ante regulations for Big Tech 
• March 2023: Stakeholder consultations for the same were concluded 
• December 2023: The term of the committee ended and is expected to be renewed again