The Central government has passed an order constituting a Committee on Digital Competition Law (CDCL) to examine the need for a separate law on competition in digital markets.
The Committee would be headed by Secretary of the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Manoj Govil. Members of the committee are:
– Competition of Commission Chairperson;
– Anand S Pathak, Managing Partner, Law Firm P&A Law Offices;
-Pallavi Shroff, Managing Partner, Law Firm Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co;
– Haigreve Khaitan, Senior Partner –Chairman of Law Firm Khaitan & Co;
– Dr Saurabh Srivastava, Indian Angel Network Chairman;
– Dr Aditya Bhattacharya, Professor of Economics;
– Haigreve Khaitan, Senior Partner – Chairman of Law Firm Khaitan & Co;
– Harsha Vardhana Singh from IKDHVAJ Advisers LLP;
– Rahul Rai, Partner & Co-founder Axiom5 Law Chambers, and
– Joint Secretary (Competition), MCA.
The order said that the invitees, not below the rank of Joint Secretary, would be nominated from Niti Aayog, the Department of Commerce, the Department of Economic Affairs, the Department of Consumer Affairs, the Department for Promotion of Industry & Internal Trade, and the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.
The Ministry of Corporate Affairs further explained the terms of reference for the committee.
These included reviewing whether the existing provisions under the Competition Act, 2002 were sufficient to deal with the challenges that have emerged as a result of the digital economy.
The Committee would examine whether there was a need for a regulatory mechanism for digital markets through a separate legislation.
The panel would further study the international best practices on regulation of digital markets, as well as other regulatory regimes and government policies regarding competition in digital markets.
It would also study the practices of leading Systemically Important Digital Intermediaries, which limit or have potential to cause harm in digital markets.
The Central government directed the Committee to submit a report, including a draft Digital Competition Act (DCA), within three months.