Ashok Chawla, Chairman, Competition Commission of India has announced that Competition Commission of India (CCI) would enable e-filing of documents from 1 October 2015. He was addressing the CII Annual Conference on Competition Law and Practise held at Mumbai recently.

The CCI Chairman said the challenge of technology was something that the CCI was dealing with given the architecture of the Competition law; from aspects of e-governance (such as e-filing) to the growth of e-commerce, which has brought in a new set of challenges: whether norms of the CCI which were created for ‘brick and mortar' should be applicable to ‘click and mortar'.

In his inaugural address, the CCI Chairman spoke about the role of the Competition Commission of India as a regulator ensuring that the Commission is very conscious of its role towards the users, consumers and enterprises. He said the CCI and its role would come into sharper focus in the current year which is expected to witness a 20 per cent increase in mergers and acquisitions as compared to the previous year.

Speaking from the aspect of ‘unfair competition' to the aspect of ‘challenges of compliance', the CCI Chairman touched upon the linkage between non-compliance and penal provisions. "The CCI is not a quasi-judicial body, but a body of experts, and this sets apart its role as a regulator. It is not just about ensuring compliance, but rather about ensuring right ‘behaviour', of ensuring that compliance is done keeping the right ‘spirit' in mind, and not just the text of the law. It is not just about ensuring compliance, but about ensuring fair play," he added.

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