COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF SECTOR REGULATORS AND COMPETITION LAW  -  A.JONAH ELISA SHINY 

COMPETITION AUTHORITIES : skills necessary for delineating relevant markets, assessing likelihood of harm to competition, entry conditions and market power.

SECTOR REGULATORS : To ensure reasonable tariffs ,third party access ,service standards etc, and to promote competition in the regulated sector, particularly addressing entry barriers and access issues.

 

AREAS OF CONFLICT

Licensing Conditions-Dominance-Monopoly pricing

Restrictive Business Practices -Merger control

INCEPTION OF SECTOR REGULATOR:

1.Monnet Sugar Limited V Union of India

2.Reliance Airport Developers Pvt. Ltd V Airports Authority Of India

INCEPTION OF  COMPETITION LAW:

ØCompetition  commission of India (CCI)

ØCompetition Appellate Tribunal (CAT)

ØSection 18,21,60 and 62 of the Competition Act,2002 –Essence of Interface between competition authority and sector specific regulators in India.

 

TYPES OF REGULATION AND COMPETITION

Economic – Technical-Social-Administrative Regulation

CONFLICT BETWEEN CCI AND SECTOR REGULATORS CAUSED BY:

Legislative Ambiguity - Jurisdictional overlap - legislative omission. Interpretational bias involved could further aggravate the conflicts. Conflicts between two may be generated by the market players and legal arbitrators  for obvious reasons.

INTERNATIONALEXPERIENCE-Namibia, E.U, U. S. A, Australia

Concurrent Jurisdiction: U.K-Netherlands-Namibia.

Cooperation and Co-ordination: Jamaica-Singapore ,India.

INDIA has the cooperative and co-ordination approach in competition Act, 2002

Section 21: Reference by Statute.

Section 21 A: Reference by Commission.

Section 49 :Competition Advocacy.

 

INDIAN PERSPECTIVE- A LESSON FOR INDIA 

India needs  to do the same in terms of tailoring the best  approach that suits its needs:

a)Clarifying Jurisdictional Roles.

b) Designing a Mandatory cooperative framework.

THREE BROAD OPTIONS AVAILABLE FOR DIVIDING THE TASK

1.The sector regulator supplants the competition Authority.

2.The competition Authority replaces the sector regulator.

3.The competition Authority and sector regulator exists.

1. To create a system to ensure cooperation between CCI and other Sector Regulations.

2. Both CCI and Sector regulator have their  areas of expertise and both cannot replace each other.

3.  A formal mechanism for coordination between CCI and The sector regulators is of key importance.