Summary
This post presents a summary of recent antitrust developments, focusing on actions by the Competition Commission of India and the European Union. It discusses Google’s writ petition against the CCI regarding the alleged leak of a confidential report and examines the CCI’s imposition of fines on United Breweries and Carlsberg for cartel activities in beer pricing. Additionally, it covers Google’s proposal to settle the EU investigation into its digital advertising practices. The analysis underscores the regulatory scrutiny faced by major market players and highlights the ongoing evolution of antitrust enforcement in India and globally.
This is a rundown of last week’s news updates on Antitrust:
Google sues Competition Commission of India (CCI) over investigation leak
Search engine giant Google has filed a writ petition against the CCI, the competition watchdog, over reports that a confidential report of the CCI’s investigation over Google’s practices in the Android smartphone sector was divulged to news outlets. The writ petition seeks a direction that the CCI act to prevent any further unlawful disclosures, submitting that Google itself had not received a copy of the Commission’s report. The CCI has defended their stance, stating that Google’s grievances lies with media outlets, and that Google has failed to point out any negligence by the antitrust body.
CCI fines United Breweries and Carlsberg for engaging in a cartel over beer prices
The CCI having found that alcoholic beverages players United Breweries and Carlberg had engaged in a cartel to seek price increases in several states, imposed heavy fines of Rs. 750 crores and Rs. 120 crores respectively. The fines had been lowered following cooperation from the entities in the investigation. The matter had first been reported to the CCI by Anheuser Busch InBev who, when acquiring SABMiller Inc., had detected such a cartel. United Breweries Chief of Sales Kiran Kumar and Carlsberg India Managing Director Nilesh Patel were also individually penalised by the CCI.
Google to settle EU antitrust probe of their digital advertising segment
Resolving problems for the search engine giant, Google has offered to settle the EU investigation of their digital advertising segment, so as to avoid a lengthy probe and a heavy fine. The European Commission, the body charged with regulating competition in the EU, had opened an investigation into allegations that Google had prioritised its display advertising technology over that of rivals, advertisers and online publishers.
Authored by Rohan Joshua Jacob (Associate).