5th European Union-India Competition Week 2022 Inaugurated

The European Union-India Competition Week, 5^th edition, was inaugurated today at the Competition Commission of India (CCI) HQ by Dr. Sangeeta Verma, acting Chairperson, CCI, and Mr Seppo Nurmi, Deputy Head of Delegation of the EU to India & Bhutan. The Competition Week is scheduled to be held during 5-7 December 2022.

In her opening remarks, Chairperson, CCI appreciated the relevance of the Competition Week for capacity building of CCI officers. Dr. Verma also highlighted the ongoing cooperation between CCI and Directorate General for Competition of the European Commission under the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed by the two authorities in November 2013. Further, she pointed out that this technical cooperation program has provided a platform for dialogue and exchange of good practices between competition authority officials and experts from the EU and India. She remarked that the topics on the agenda are not only of great contemporary relevance and significance but also quite futuristic.

In the backdrop of the rapidly changing and evolving digital landscape that is posing new challenges for competition law enforcers and questioning the traditional parameters of competition regulation, she highlighted the need for competition agencies to develop innovative perspectives on how to apply the existing instruments suitably and devise new tools, where necessary.

The practical insights shared by experts from the EU in designing and implementing their digital regulations will lead to very engaging discussions, she added.

The Deputy Head of the EU delegation, Mr Nurmi, highlighted the India-EU relations that date back to the early-1960s. In reference to the agenda items to be covered in the ongoing India-EU Competition Week, he stated that topics such as experiences in applying antitrust laws to the digital economy/markets, introduction of the EU’s Digital Markets Act, investigating hub-and-spoke agreements & other atypical cartels and competition law & sustainable co-operation; are timely for sharing the views of EU experts. He further stated that the 5th India-EU Competition Week provides a platform to share views from two key economies on antitrust action in digital and technology markets as we attempt to find answers to these challenges and provides an opportunity to discuss how regulation can supplement competition enforcement, as the EU has set the Digital Markets Act in motion.

A short meeting on the sidelines of the competition week was also held between the Deputy Head of the EU delegation and Chairperson, CCI along-with the Secretary and other officials.