Daily Current Affairs: Competition Commission of India

Overview: 

A ‘National Conference on Public Procurement & Competition Law’ is being organised by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) with a view to scale up Competition Advocacy and reach out to important stakeholders in public procurement ecosystem.

• The National Conference is being organised in association with Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs (IICA), a think tank under the aegis of Ministry of Corporate Affairs. 

About Competition Commission Of India:

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) was established under the Competition Act, 2002 for the administration, implementation and enforcement of the Act, and was duly constituted in March 2009. Chairman and members are appointed by the central government. 

The following are the objectives of the Commission:

• To prevent practices having adverse effect on competition.
• To promote and sustain competition in markets.
• To protect the interests of consumers.
• To ensure freedom of trade. 

Functions of the commission:

• It is the duty of the Commission to eliminate practices having adverse effect on competition, promote and sustain competition, protect the interests of consumers and ensure freedom of trade in the markets of India.
• The Commission is also required to give opinion on competition issues on a reference received from a statutory authority established under any law and to undertake competition advocacy, create public awareness and impart training on competition issues. 

The Competition Act:

• The Competition Act, 2002, as amended by the Competition (Amendment) Act, 2007, prohibits anti-competitive agreements, abuse of dominant position by enterprises and regulates combinations (acquisition, acquiring of control and M&A), which causes or likely to cause an appreciable adverse effect on competition within India. 

Committee to review the Act:

In pursuance of its objective of ensuring that Legislation is in sync with the needs of strong economic fundamentals, the Government recently constituted a Competition Law Review Committee to review the Competition Act headed by Secretary, Ministry of Corporate Affairs.

Sources: pib.