THE HUB AND SPOKE MODEL OF CARTELIZATION: A LEGAL PERSPECTIVE

Introduction Cartelization brings enterprises to a level of consensus regarding pricing or other policies that often result in the exploitation of consumers. It refers to the horizontal agreements between enterprises and is a punishable offense in many legislations around the world. A new concept of cartelization emerged with increasing business transactions called- The Hub and Spoke Model. According to this […]

THE RISE IN JUDICIAL INTERFERENCE AND ITS IMPACT ON THE WORKING OF INDIAN ANTITRUST REGULATOR

Ankit Singh Rajput INTRODUCTION Indian competition law enforcement reveals a strong, yet healthy, tension. Ever since the inception of the Competition Act, 2002 [“the Act”], the CCI has initiated investigations in various sectors, for instance, auto components, digital sectors, pharma, e-commerce, digital components among other sectors. On one hand, we can see the Competition Commission of India [“CCI”] proactively initiating investigations in all these sectors. However, on […]

SELF DETERMINATION: THE NEXUS BETWEEN COMPETITION LAW AND DATA REGULATION

A. Rangarajan Introduction Data and Competition regulation have been traditionally delineated, with the European Competition Commission [“the Commission”] consistently holding that data privacy issues would be subject to combination regulation only to the extent that they would hamper competition. Similar sentiments were echoed when Google acquired DoubleClick, an advertisement platform that specialized at targeted advertisement monitoring advertisement performance. The combination sought not […]

EUROPE’S UNIVERSAL USB MANDATE: ANTI OR PRO COMPETITIVE

Aditya Trivedi and Mrigank Patel BACKGROUND: In the contemporary time where science & technology, simultaneously, are moving at a rapid pace with each passing year, the advancement in technology surpasses years’ worth of previous innovation and development, making even the latest gadgets obsolete in such a short span of time. Consequently, electronic waste [“E-waste”] is emerging to be a significant threat to the economy […]

CCI’s FLEXIBLE APPROACH IN HOLDING MSMEs BID RIGGING – ANTI-COMPETITIVE

Akshat Dahate INTRODUCTION: Recently, the Competition Commission of India [“CCI”] in In Re: Eastern Railway, Kolkata and M/s Chandra Brothers has issued cease and desist order against eight firms pronounced guilty of bid-rigging and cartelization in a tender floated by Eastern Railway, Kolkata in the supply of Axle Bearings by means of directly or indirectly determining prices, allocating tenders, coordinating bid prices […]

REMEDIES TO THE PLIGHT OF PRIVACY AND EXCESSIVE DATA COLLECTION IN DIGITAL MARKETS

Akshat Kothari and Samridhi Shrimali INTRODUCTION Data is critical not only for gaining competitive advantage but also for surviving in the modern environment and gaining geopolitical influence.  A market player can achieve near-monopoly status as a result of excessive data on their users and create a “winner-takes-almost-all effect.” In digital markets where data is collected through direct and indirect ways,  users are often […]

THE APP STORE ANTITRUST CONTROVERSY IN THE INDIAN CONTEXT

Aryaman Kapoor INTRODUCTION Apple and Google have been facing scrutiny worldwide from both regulators and developers due to their commission policies. Developers are forced to use the payment system of either Apple and Google on their respective operating systems which can have commissions as high as 30%. Other than this, developers are barred from using third-party payment systems. This seeps into the profit of the […]