Union Government Introduced Bill to Amend Competition Act

The Union Government of India on 10 December 2012 introduced a bill in Parliament to amend the Competition Act which, among other things, will require the Competition Commission to decide on corporate mergers within 180 days.

The bill is named Competition (Amendment) Bill, 2012 bill and was introduced by Corporate Affairs Minister Sachin Pilot in the Lok Sabha to amend the Competition Act 2002.

The bill would also confer powers on fair trade regulator Competition Commission of India (CCI) to vet all M&A deals and also authorise its Director General to carry out search and seizure activities. Presently, CCI's Director General, upon authorisation by the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, Delhi, has the powers to carry out search and seizure in any investigation. This is under Section 41(3) of the Competition Act, 2002.

The Bill also seeks to amend the existing provision on abuse of dominant position to provide that no enterprise or group either jointly or singly shall abuse its dominant position.

A new Section 5A is also going to be inserted into the Act. As per this section, notwithstanding anything in Section 5, the Central Government may, in consultation with the Commission, by notification, specify different values of assets and turnover for any class or classes of enterprise for the purpose of Section 5.