MediaNama’s Take: Publicis’ lawsuit highlights a recurring theme in Indian competition law. Regulators keep arming themselves with stronger enforcement tools, but the procedural guardrails remain hazy. The CCI insists on secrecy to protect whistleblowers, yet companies face penalties so severe that withholding case files looks like denying due process.
We saw a similar tension in the CCI’s recent settlement with Google over Android TV licensing. That case marked the first use of the 2024 Settlement Regulations, meant to speed up enforcement through structural fixes rather than endless appeals. But even there, one CCI member dissented, warning that Google’s restrictive agreements could continue alongside the new “flexible” ones. In other words, the Commission exercised its expanded powers without fully resolving how the guardrails should work in practice.
The real question now is whether India can build trust in its competition regime while leaving these gaps in transparency and procedural clarity unaddressed.
What’s the news
Publicis has taken the CCI to the Delhi High Court, filing a petition on August 11 that accuses the regulator of denying it access to case records in an ongoing cartel investigation, according to a report by Reuters. The company says it is “unable to understand the allegations against them and prepare a defence in the absence of the case records.”
This legal move comes after the CCI pressed ahead with its investigation. On August 4, the regulator issued summons to Publicis South Asia Chief Executive Officer, Anupriya Acharya, asking her to appear before investigators and produce documents such as contracts and revenue-sharing agreements. Publicis has asked the High Court to quash the summons and compel the CCI to grant inspection rights.
The Transparency Clash
Publicis’ court filing highlights the clash between India’s confidentiality rules for cartel probes and the principle of natural justice.
Section 57 of the Competition Act, 2002 bars the Commission or the Appellate Tribunal from disclosing any information about an enterprise without the company’s prior written permission, unless the disclosure serves the purposes of the Act or another law. This provision creates a strong legal shield for confidentiality.
“No information relating to any enterprise, being an information which has been obtained by or on behalf of [the Commission or the Appellate Tribunal] for the purposes of this Act, shall, without the previous permission in writing of the enterprise, be disclosed otherwise than in compliance with or for the purposes of this Act or any other law for the time being in force”, the section reads.
The CCI General Regulations, 2009 reinforce that shield. Regulation 35(1) requires the Commission to keep an informant’s identity confidential if the informant makes a written request. The amendment added a proviso that allows the Commission to disclose the…
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