Bharat Matrimony, Match Group and others oppose IAMAI’s view on Digital Competition Act

Four members of the Internet and Mobile Association of India have written a letter to the Ministry of Corporate Affairs expressing different views on the industry body’s recent stand on the draft Digital Competition Bill.

In a letter to the ministry, four digital companies – Bharat Matrimony, Tinder and Hinge operator Match Group, ShareChat and Hoichoi – expressed a different view on the proposal submitted by IAMAI, stating that the regulations should apply ex-ante and not post-ante.

Ex-ante means that regulations should be anticipatory, designed to prevent or discourage certain practices before they occur. The current competition law, the Competition Act (2002), is based on an ex post framework in which the Competition Commission of India steps in after an anti-competitive act has occurred.

“The IAMAI submission does not reflect the entire digital start-up ecosystem or IAMAI’s diverse membership of over 540 companies as only a small percentage of these members opposed the ex ante regulations introduced by the DCB. However, the filing overwhelmingly reflects this minority perspective,” said the letter, verified by NDTV Profit.

The four members said opposing ex ante regulation and continuing the ex post regime would maintain the status quo and enable entrenched Big Tech players to continue to exploit regulatory loopholes to stifle competition and innovation.

“While we share similar concerns about the thresholds for designating a Systemically Important Digital Enterprise, IAMAI’s statement on the rest of the DCB project appears to raise blunt concerns that are at odds with the broader imperative of supporting fair competition for all essential digital services in India,” it said. writing.

Four members urged the ministry to start working on the bill as soon as possible. In March this year, the Digital Competition Law Commission released its report outlining the challenges of anti-competitive practices by digital businesses such as anti-steering, opt-in, bundling and bundling in digital markets in India.

The report proposes a draft Digital Competition Act providing for ex-ante regulations aimed at curbing these anti-competitive practices. As part of public consultations, IAMAI presented its comments on the report, in which it opposed the ex ante regulations proposed in the draft, which was opposed by the four members.