Parliament committee wants focus on potential unfair practices by digital companies

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

parliament committee has asked a government panel on digital competition law to focus on ten anti-competitive practices that large digital technology companies can potentially resort to, including deep discounting, exclusive tie-ups, restricting third-party applications, and lack of platform neutrality. The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance headed by former minister of state for finance Jayant Sinha also wants to be apprised of the government panel's recommendations after they are submitted with the government.

The government had in February set up a committee on digital competition law under corporate affairs secretary Manoj Govil to examine the need for any ex-ante regulatory mechanism for digital markets through a separate law and to study international best practices, among others. This panel is expected to wrap up the drafting of its report early next month.

In a report on the action taken by the government on its earlier recommendations on 'Anti-competitive practices by big tech companies', the standing committee on finance said the Centre had accepted all its suggestions. The action-taken report was submitted in Parliament on Thursday.

In its December 2022 report, the committee had suggested that the government bring out a digital competition law and also set up a digital markets units within the Competition Commission of India (CCI) among others to regulate Big Tech. The house panel noted that the CCI has established a Digital Market and Data Unit (DMOU), in sync with its suggestion, to act as a nodal point for stakeholder engagement on digital market matters.