This news report was authored and published by The Hindu on 10 December 2021. It features opinion from AnantLaw.
The Competition Commission of India (CCI) is in the process of introducing a ‘confidentiality’ regime in line with the best global practices in consultation with stakeholders, it’s Chairman Ashok Kumar Gupta, has said.
In his virtual address at CII Annual Conference on Competition Law and Practice on Friday, Gupta said that CCI has been continuously streamlining processes and procedures to meet the demands of the times.
It maybe recalled that the CCI had in April 2021 published a draft proposal for public comment, to revisit the detailed mechanism for dealing with confidentiality claims made by parties under regulation 35 of the CCI (General) Regulations, 2009.
Currently, the CCI or the DG had to do a clause-by-clause disposal of the confidentiality claims made by the parties concerned. Now the parties will be allowed to self certify their confidentiality claims.
The proposed regime requires parties seeking confidentiality to self certify their confidentiality claims; introduce a mechanism of confidentiality rings, which would comprise of the authorised representatives of the parties who would be able to review the entire case records in an unredacted form. The CCI is also proposed to be empowered to impose penalties against any defaulting parties.
Experts’ take
Rahul Goel, Partner, AnantLaw had a different take on the proposed regime. He said that the extant provisions and regulations under the Competition Act provides adequate mechanism for ensuring confidentiality of data, information or the informant. The confidentiality regime which is currently in place has also passed judicial scrutiny. The proposed amendment to the confidentiality regime is likely to unsettle the established jurisprudence and may lead to increase in litigation, Goel said.