The Competition Commission of India (“CCI”) has issued the Draft CCI (Lesser Penalty) Regulations 2023 (“Draft Regulations”) to repeal and replace the Competition Commission of India (Lesser Penalty) Regulations, 2009. Stakeholders have been invited by CCI to submit written comments on the Draft Regulations by 6th November, 2023. The comments can only be sent by duly filling the form hosted on the CCI’s website at: https://cci.gov.in/stakeholders-topics-consultations.
Key Highlights of the Regulations:
The Draft has provided the following provisions amongst other things:
1. Form and contents of the application for lesser penalty and lesser penalty plus.
2. Procedure for grant of lesser penalty and lesser penalty plus, and
3. Withdrawal of application for lesser penalty and lesser penalty plus.
Please click on the link below to have a detailed read of the Regulation.
Background:
The Competition (Amendment) Act, 2023 (“Amendment Act”) has introduced the ‘lesser penalty plus’ mechanism to incentivize an existing Lesser Penalty (“LP”) applicant in respect of the first cartel to give full, true, and vital disclosures about a second cartel unknown to the CCI. The applicant will be eligible to receive additional reduction in penalty for the first cartel besides reduction in penalty as per priority status in respect of first cartel, subject to fulfillment of prescribed terms and conditions. Now, in view of the said changes introduced by the Amendment Act, CCI has proposed the Draft CCI (Lesser Penalty) Regulations 2023, to repeal and replace the Competition Commission of India (Lesser Penalty) Regulations, 2009.
Source: Competition Commission of India
