The Lok Sabha, today passed The Competition (Amendment) Bill, 2022 to amend The Competition Act of 2002. Last year, during the Monsoon Session of the Parliament in August the said bill was introduced in the Lower House. It was referred to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance headed by Jayant Sinha for examination.

The Bill seeks to amend the Competition Act to regulate mergers and acquisitions based on the value of transactions. Deals with a transaction value of more than ₹2,000 crores will require the approval of the Competition Commission of India (CCI). It also proposes to reduce the timeline for the CCI to pass an order on such transactions from 210 days to 150 days.

Further, another objective of the Bill is to widen the scope of entities that can be considered as being involved in anti-competitive agreements. Presently, only enterprises or persons in similar fields can be held accountable for such agreements. 

Another proposed introduction is a framework for faster resolution of investigations through settlement and commitment. The Bill also decriminalizes certain offences under the Act by replacing fines with civil penalties. These offences include failure to comply with orders of the CCI and directions of the Director General (DG) related to anti-competitive agreements and abuse of a dominant position.