Does the new competition law effectively tackle cartels?
A major challenge, this is, for the new competition authority in India, Id say, apart from the other major challenge of abuse of dominance. Many experts consider anti-cartel activity the most important function of a competition agency. They feel that because cartels cause the greatest harm to consumers, finding and prosecuting these agreements should be a top priority of competition officials. Prosecuting cartels may be the most difficult of the tasks assigned to competition authorities as cartels are conceived and carried out in secret. Cartel operators, knowing that their conduct is unlawful, do not willingly cooperate with competition officials in the course of investigations. Thus obtaining evidence to prove the existence of cartel agreements requires adequate legal provisions, special investigative tools and skills. The new law provides for these, including amnesty to whistle-blowers. The only problem is the lack of capacity in the new authority; to resolve this, though, personnel
