The Competition Commission of India (CCI) is a statutory body established under the Competition Act, 2002, with the objective of preventing practices having adverse effect on competition, promoting and sustaining competition in markets, protecting the interests of consumers, and ensuring freedom of trade carried on by other participants within markets in India. CCI is also mandated to take suitable measures for the promotion of competition advocacy and spreading awareness about competition issues. In furtherance of the above, as a public institution, CCI encourages scholarship in the field of competition law and policy to develop a better understanding of competition issues relevant to the Indian context and draw inferences for the implementation of competition law to create a culture of competition in India. CCI’s journal, Competition Commission of India Journal on Competition Law and Policy, is published annually to this end.
The journal aims to encourage research and debate on contemporary issues in the field of competition law to develop a better understanding of competition issues relevant to the Indian context and draw inferences for the implementation of competition law in India. The journal covers a wide range of themes. Research papers, articles, case studies, and book reviews based on empirical research on the following themes in the Indian context are encouraged for submission:
- Market definition, measuring market power, and abuse of dominance
Covering issues such as empirical methods of defining markets, measuring market power, assessment of exclusionary unilateral conduct, etc.
- Vertical restraints and competition
Vertical restraints can have many pro-competitive as well as anti-competitive effects. Papers may explore areas such as resale price maintenance, assignment of exclusive territories or exclusive dealing, tying and bundling, and circumstances under which these restrictions have anti-competitive effects.
- Horizontal agreements and cartelization
Prohibition of collusive conduct of firms is a key component of competition law. Papers may explore issues such as the economics of collusion, information exchange, price signalling, facilitating factors for cartels, detecting and discouraging cartels, etc.
- Economics of platform markets and challenges for antitrust enforcement
New digital products and business models as well as the special characteristics of digital markets have created novel challenges for enforcement and competition policy. Papers may explore the tools and techniques offered by economics to assess competition issues in platform markets.
- Intellectual Property Rights and competition law
Competition law is concerned not with the legitimate exercise of IP rights but with the efforts of holders of this right to expand their scope either to new products or beyond a certain time, or by conditioning access to the right on restrictions. Papers may explore areas of recent concerns in IP, such as competition law interface.
- Price and non-price effects of mergers
Economic analysis plays an important role in merger review. Papers may focus on recent developments in estimating the effects of mergers (merger simulation, diversion ratios, pricing pressure indices, etc.), including innovation and welfare effects such as vertical or conglomerate mergers and issues in the use of appropriate remedies, i.e., the adoption of structural and/or behavioural remedies.
- Any other issues related to competition policy and law