Winter School On “Role Of Economics In Competition Law”
CIRC in collaboration with NERA Economic Consulting USA, conducted the 3rd Winter School on “Role of Economics in Competition Law” from 28th to 30th November, 2016 in India Habitat Centre, New Delhi.

The aim of this advanced Winter School was to familiarise participants with application of Economics in the field of competition law. Further, the training programme provided an opportunity to learn about the new economic literature along the lines of recent legal developments, in order to establish a clear link between the new theories and the day-to-day work of legal practitioners. This enabled participants to face and answer difficult questions about the practical matters they come across in their work in an economically and legally informed manner.

It provided global quality training, with globally applied economic principles and techniques which are immensely beneficial for competition law analysis. The lead faculty for the programme were:

Ø Dr Subramaniam Ramnarayan, Vice President, NERA Economic Consulting
Ø Dr Sourav Chatterjee, Senior Vice President, BVA Group
Ø Dr Payal Malik, Professor of Economics, University of Delhi

World Competition Day, 2016
Keeping up with the tradition, CUTS Institute for Regulation & Competition (CIRC) in collaboration with CUTS International celebrated the World Competition Day on 5th of December 2016 in India Habitat Centre, New Delhi. The theme for this year’s event was ‘Linkages between Competition and Intellectual Property’. Way back in 1980, on December 5th, the UN Set of Multilaterally Agreed Equitable Principles and Rules for the Control of Restrictive Business Practices came into being. Although there are no multilateral rules on competition law, there are about 130 countries in world having a competition law regime.

The event had three important highlights i.e. a keynote address by the Former Chairperson Competition Commission of India, Mr. Dhanendra Kumar followed by the release of an e-publication by CUTS International on the same theme as the event. Third, a panel discussion titled “Promoting Innovation and dissemination of technology for increased economic growth through Intellectual Property and Competition”. The panel consisted of IP practitioners, competition law experts and representative from Competition Commission of India (CCI). Dr. Arvind Mayaram (Former Finance Secretary, GOI) Chairman of CIRC, gave the welcome remarks. The event was chaired by Mr Pradeep S Mehta, Secretary General, CUTS International.

Mr. Pradeep Mehta thereafter, drew the audience’s attention towards the release of CUTS’s e-publication on “Interface between Competition and Intellectual Property Rights” which is a collection of 20 articles. This compendium has contributions from the global scholars and experts in the field of IP and competition law.

Principled approach to Competition Law Enforcement in India, Taxindiaonline.com, 05 October.
External web link is http://tiolcorplaws.com/news/details/MjczNTc=
CIRC web link:         http://circ.in/External-Publications.aspx

Abstract
Steering through appellate challenges is an anathema which the Competition Commission of India (CCI) is currently facing in India after about seven years of notification of its substantive provisions related to anticompetitive agreements and abuse of dominance. The Competition Commission of India has been given a wide mandate under the law and its enforcement actions can have economy wide impact on the functioning of various enterprises. Past few months have seen challenging times for the CCI as COMPAT has come down heavily on some of the orders of CCI.

Fundamental challenge relates to the violation of principles of natural justice in its entire decision making process. The article analyses the recent decisions of the CCI and COMPAT to identify the contentious issues in this regard. The time has come for the CCI to evolve a comprehensive protocol and lay down guidelines for conducting investigation/inquiry in consonance with the principles of natural justice (PNJ). Discretion provided under the current legal framework for the enforcement of the law needs to be used judiciously so as to ensure that CCI fulfills the mandate of a fair competition regulator in India.

Ongoing Projects

Manipur Project
CUTS Institute of Regulation and Competition (CIRC) through its think tank Global Initiative for Sustainable Infrastructure (GISI) has undertaken a research assignment to test the feasibility of developing an integrated tourism hub at the Loktak Lake in Manipur through PPP (Public Private Partnership) mode. The proposed tourism hub will host independent and mutually beneficial facilities like exhibition halls, convention centers, banquet halls, auditoria, arena, financial centre, hotels, food & beverage (F&B) outlets & retail services. In the surrounding vicinity of the hub, other facilities such as traditional market for handicrafts, local food joints, ethnic wear stores and other related cultural and traditional shops can be set up. The project is envisioned to be developed through an optimum Public-Private Partnership model with support of viable gap funding if required. The proposed centre can become a key facilitator in making Manipur a key destination in NER India under the MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conventions and Exhibitions) destination category.

Project Goals: 
The objective of the research is to assist the government of Manipur to establish an integrated tourism hub through PPPs which would create direct and indirect job creation for the people of Manipur through the following activities:

Odisha Project
Water and sanitation sector has several impediments marred when it comes to private sector participation. The constraints are from all stakeholders in the value chain such as supply side, demand side and from community. While local bodies/gram panchayats face major problems in financing the projects for asset creation and service delivery, there is apprehension about private sector participation on a very sensitive social need. Fear of ownership, consumer perception on water service delivery as a free service is one of the major cause of concerns. There are constraints because of political sensitivities and activism of select NGOs/CSOs on social vs. capital issue which makes it even harder for the entry of private players in this sector Thus, there is a need to create a structured approach for enabling private investment to the sector, including training and capacity building for the state units. This research is an initiative to focus on identifying various PPP models and structures which can be successfully implemented in water and sanitation sector. The pilot state identified for the study is Odisha. The study would majorly focus on rural and semi-urban centers with a cluster approach to provide for a minimum economic size of 50-75,000 population. However, as we enter the first phase, other states could be added depending upon the response of the respective governments.

The objective of the project will be development of sustainable and inclusive PPP model through promotion of People first PPPs. The model will focus on development of infrastructure assets and the delivery of associated services that specifically focus on the poor and the under-serviced sections of the society.

CompIP Project
CUTS Institute for Regulation & Competition (CIRC) along with CUTS International is undertaking empirical-based research to advocate for constructive policy and regulatory reforms in the IPR regime in order to foster innovation and competition. This research is envisaged to facilitate promotion of a balanced IP regulatory framework that promotes and advances technological innovations, resulting in benefits to consumers and producers in India. Currently, the CompIP research program is for a period of 3 years culminating in September, 2018, and will provide a sustainable platform for discourse and discussions involving different stakeholders from industry, government, regulators, academia, media, etc. During the first phase, CIRC organised the launch conference for this project in March 2016. A roundtable discussion on Growth of ICT Sector in India: Issues and Challenges pertaining to SEPs was organised on August 22, 2016 in New Delhi and was attended by government officials, CCI official, industry players, academicians researchers and other experts in the field. For the second phase of the project, a lot of activities are lined up for year 2017. These activities include: distinguished lecture by international expert, faculty development programme (FDP), policy dialogue workshop and research in the area of IP and competition law.