Why in News?

• Union Finance Ministry has constituted nine-member Competition Law Review Committee to ensure that legislation is in tune with changing business environment.
• The committee was constituted in pursuance of Government’s objective of ensuring that legislation is in sync with needs of strong economic fundamentals.

Need for Review:

• To ensure that Legislation is in sync with the needs of strong economic fundamentals, the Government has constituted a Committee to review the Competition Act.
• During the past nine years the size of the Indian Economy has grown immensely and India is today amongst the top five Economies in the World and poised to forge ahead further.
• In this context, it is essential that Competition Law is strengthened, and re-calibrated to promote best practices which result in the citizens of this country achieving their aspirations and value for money.

Competition Commission of India:

• The Competition Act was passed in the year 2002 and the Competition Commission of India was set up in pursuance of the same.
• A need was felt to promote competition and private enterprise especially in the light of 1991 Indian economic liberalisation.
• The Commission started functioning in right earnest from 2009 and has contributed immensely towards the development of competition and fair play practices in the Indian market.
• The Act prohibits anti-competitive agreements, abuse of dominant position by enterprises and regulates combinations (acquisition, acquiring of control and Merger and acquisition)

Tasks assigned to the Committee:

• To review the Competition Act/ Rules/ Regulations, in view of changing business environment and bring necessary changes, if required
• To look into international best practices in the competition fields, especially anti-trust laws, merger guidelines and handling cross border competition issues.
• To study other regulatory regimes/ institutional mechanisms/ government policies which overlap with the Competition Act.
• Any other matters related to competition issue and considered necessary by the Committee.