To bring much clarity and transparency to the merger control process under Competition Act, 2002, the Competition Commission of India has amended its Procedure in Regard To The Transaction Of Business Relating To Combinations Regulations, 2011 (short “Combination Regulations”) for the sixth time in a row. This reflects CCI’s pro-business approach in dealing with ease of business environment in India.
The significant changes ushered by the amended Regulations are following:
Withdraw and Refile
The amended Regulations have permitted the notifying parties before the CCI issues show cause notice with an option to withdraw and refile a merger notification. CCI explained that the filing fee duly paid shall be adjusted against the fee payable for the new notification if it is submitted with three months of the withdrawal.
Modifications to Combination
Amended Regulations provide that notifying parties shall offer voluntary modifications after the issuance of show cause notice under Section 29 of the Competition Act, 2002 and on the basis of such voluntary modifications the CCI shall approve the combination.
Clarification regarding Timeline
Amended Regulations lays down the new rule that at certain time periods (remove defects from the filing, the time taken by the CCI to consider validity of the merger filing or self-modifications by parties, etc.) shall be excluded from the 210-day timeline mentioned under Section 6(2A) of the Act, which requires parties to wait until the expiry of 210 days from the date of notification, before giving effect to transactions/combinations.
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