India has transformed its competition regime to bring it in harmony with the demands of liberal market economy. One of the significant changes the new competition law has brought about is that it has differentiated between horizontal and vertical agreements. Cartels under the new regime are presumed to be anticompetitive. However, the penalty clauses initially created some confusion with regard to the interpretation of 'presumption'. Subsequent amendments and decisions of the Competition Commission of India have cleared many ambiguities but some grey areas are still left. It would be in keeping with the spirit of the new Act and the investigation procedure outlined in it that the 'presumption' in section 3 of the Indian Competition Act be read as 'quick look rule of reason' approach developed in the United States of America. This would take care of the need for flexibility in application of the competition law depending on the social and economic implications of a particular case.
World Competition