The Role and Efficiency of Competition Commission of India in Regulating Abuse of Dominant Position in the Digital Platforms

Abstract

Competition is crucial to the functioning of markets. It stimulates innovation and brings vitality and vigour to the economy. It challenges a firm to operate efficiently and deliver greater variety of good quality products to consumers lest it loses out to its competitors. But at the same time competition fuels rivalry and in a bid to sweep more profits and outdo each other, the competing firms, more than rarely, resort to unfair trade practices. To ensure a healthy competitive environment, governments of various countries, worldwide, have subjected competition to legal restrictions. Under the general term of "competition law," we find the set of laws and regulations enacted to guarantee that all market participants are provided with an equivalent operating platform, to safeguard the interests of customers, and to penalise those who abuse their position of dominance. Antitrust law in the United States, anti-monopoly laws in China, competition law in the European Union and India, and so on are all names for the same matter: competition law. Because these laws are drafted to meet the requirements of each nation's domestic system, the provisions of these laws differ from nation to nation. However, there are a few components that are shared by these acts. These elements include anti-competitive agreements, abuse of dominance, mergers and acquisitions, and so on. In current times, the concept of abuse of dominance is significant. It is considered to happen when a corporation or group of enterprises abuses their dominating position in the market. Because of this, the idea of abusing the dominant position was included in the Competition Act of 2002 in order to make the market more equitable. In particular, Section 4 of the Act addresses the issue of abusive use of a dominant position. It is also widely recognised as a global issue in wealthy and developing nations. Every country has its own laws to prevent and punish the abuse of dominating positions.