The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has released the draft of revised lesser penalty regulations that provides for introduction of a “leniency plus” programme.
Key points
- It is a new cartel detecting tool, and sheds light on how the competition watchdog intends to operationalise it.
- Leniency Plus is a proactive antitrust enforcement strategy aimed at attracting leniency applications by encouraging companies already under investigation for one cartel to report other cartels unknown to the competition regulator.
- The “Leniency Plus” regime is part of the Competition (Amendment) Act 2023.
- A leniency plus regime is expected to further incentivise applicants to come forward with disclosures regarding multiple cartels, thereby enabling the CCI to save time and resources on cartels investigation.
- The current Competition Act 2002 already has a leniency programme, which allows companies that provide sufficient information about a cartel in which they have participated to receive partial immunity from penalty.
- Under the existing leniency framework, CCI may impose a lesser penalty on a person involved in a cartel if such person has made a full and true disclosure in respect of alleged violations and such disclosure is vital.
- Under ‘Leniency Plus’, a cartelist who is cooperating with CCI for leniency, can disclose the existence of another cartel in an unrelated market in the course of original leniency proceedings in exchange for an additional reduction in penalty.
