The committee has submitted the 236-page report to the Finance and Corporate Affairs Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. It said the proposed Digital Competition Law will ensure timely detection, enforcement, and disposal of proceedings in digital markets.
Big Tech companies such as Google, Apple, Flipkart, Amazon, and Uber opposed ex-ante regulation while giving their suggestions to the expert committee on digital competition law. While Twitter and Paytm have favoured the norms in its stakeholder submission, it said it was in favour as long as only large digital enterprises with a critical mass were subject to the regulations.
Government appointed panel has proposed ex-ante competition regulations for big tech firms to monitor their behaviours and curb unfair business practices.
What Is Digital Competition Law?
Digital panel says there is a need for regulations and separate Digital Competition Law for Big Tech companies. The CDCL has proposed the introduction of an ex-ante framework which will regulate large digital firms and also help to strengthen the existing competition framework which governs these big tech giants.
After facing a huge opposition from Big Tech companies, the Centre appointed a 16 members Committee on Digital Competition Law (CDCL) which highlights a need for a separate Digital Competition Act which enables the Competition.
The committee has submitted the 236-page report to the Finance and Corporate Affairs Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. It said the proposed Digital Competition Law will ensure timely detection, enforcement, and disposal of proceedings in digital markets.
The Corporate Affairs Ministry (MCA) has now opened the report for the public and asked for thier comments on the report and also on the draft Bill of Digital Competition Law by April 15.
Flipkart, Amazon, MakeMyTrip, Apple On Digital Competition Law
Calling it untimely and excessive and over-regulation, Amazon said in its stakeholder submission that it was already heavily regulated by the foreign direct investment policy, which mandates that it can only act as an online marketplace and not as a seller, and that it should provide fair terms to all sellers, reported Business Standard.
Apple India demanded a regional office in Bengaluru in order to get easy access to the technology ecosystem of the country, states report.
Flipkart has said that the existing ex-post regime in the country is well-equipped and can effectively regulate digital markets in India. “A one-size fits-all approach similar to the DMA model would be unsuitable for effective regulation of digital markets since it remains untested,” Flipkart responded to stakeholders, states report.
MakeMyTrip said that they were s in favour of ex-ante regulation only to the extent that they were made applicable to select large horizontal platforms that have created economy wide ecosystems.