Delivering the inaugural speech at a two-day conference of the competition authorities of BRICS members in the national capital, Kaur called for sharing of experiences to make sure “digital markets remain competitive and contestable”.
India is hosting the conference, a bi-annual event, after a gap of 10 years. The BRICS grouping comprises Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
“Digital technology has been a force multiplier in achieving growth, inclusion and innovation. But in a handful of cases, it has been observed that the digital sector can naturally favour the growth of a handful of platforms and the kind of harm they can do to competition and consumers,” Kaur said.
“We, as competition authorities, have a critical role to play here. Our enforcement experiences and market studies have helped us to understand these markets better,” she added.
The conference comes at a crucial time for India when some large technology players such as Google, Apple and Facebook already face probes by the CCI for possible abuse of fair trade rules. It has also set up a panel to examine the need for any ex-ante regulatory mechanism for digital markets. It could bring in a specific digital competition law to regulate big tech, instead of tweaking the recently amended Competition Act, people close to the development had told ET.Two major imperatives facing BRICS economies today are leveraging digital technology and the pursuit of environmentally sustainable economic growth, Kaur said.The rapidly evolving markets and technological advancements have given rise to fresh challenges and new dimensions in the competition law and policy, she said.
The competition regulators must, therefore, adapt and respond to these changes by adding new dimensions to their approach and by sharpening their existing instruments, she said.
The competition authorities of the BRICS grouping must also build collective capacity in the fields of artificial intelligence, blockchains and algorithms as the digital transition progresses, she said, highlighting emerging areas of challenges for the regulators.
The BRICS conference this year centres around the theme of new issues in competition law and policy, dimensions, perspectives and challenges.
Global South
Keeping with New Delhi’s stepped-up focus on the concerns of developing countries, which was also reflected in the recent G20 leaders’ conference under India’s presidency, Kaur said: “Owing to our shared socio economic context, this network (BRICS competition authorities) has also given us valuable opportunity to view competition governance through the lens of the Global South.”
She said under the memorandum of understanding among competition authorities of the BRICS grouping, the working groups in the automobile, digital, food and pharmaceutical industries have accomplished a deeper understanding of these markets and competition policy responses in the sectors.
As the regulators huddle to discuss various issues over the course of the two-day conference, Kaur said it is useful to have a conversation on what guides the choice of instruments, and why and in which specific cases and context the authorities would prefer soft law enforcement mechanisms vis-a-vis legally binding force of law.
Sustainability issues
Kaur focussed on sustainability and climate change, which reflect, and warrant, a shift towards environmentally-conscious policies and practices to ensure “enterprises build green businesses without having to face anti-competitive barriers”.
“Therefore, it is critical to have a clear framework for assessing agreements having sustainability dimensions,” she said.
CCI’s progress
The CCI, Kaur said, has made remarkable strides since its inception in 2009, “firmly establishing itself as a credible, responsive and dynamic regulator in the eyes of stakeholders”. It has striven to strike a “nuanced balance between fostering legitimate competitive strategies and denouncing anti-competitive behaviour”, leveraging both enforcement and advocacy as twin pillars in its journey, she added.
CCI, in consultation with stakeholders, has conducted over 1,800 competition advocacy initiatives and resolved more than 1,200 antitrust cases, she said. It has also scrutinized over 1,000 mergers, acquisitions and amalgamation filings.
Kaur said India’s recently-amended competition law significantly enriches the regulator’s toolkit by introducing new instruments, such as the settlement and commitment framework, leniency-plus regime and deal value thresholds for the examination of mergers and combinations.
