“CRACKING THE CARTEL CODE: UNVEILING THE EFFICACY AND LIMITATIONS OF LENIENCY PROGRAMS IN INDIAN COMPETITION LAW THROUGH CASE LAW ANALYSIS”
AUTHOR – ARDRA GOODWIN, STUDENT AT SYMBIOSIS LAW SCHOOL, PUNE
BEST CITATION – ARDRA GOODWIN, “CRACKING THE CARTEL CODE: UNVEILING THE EFFICACY AND LIMITATIONS OF LENIENCY PROGRAMS IN INDIAN COMPETITION LAW THROUGH CASE LAW ANALYSIS”, INDIAN JOURNAL OF LEGAL REVIEW (IJLR), 4 (2) OF 2024, PG. 79-86, APIS – 3920 – 0001 & ISSN – 2583-2344.
Abstract
“Globalization is all those processes by which the people of the world are incorporated into a single world society” according to British Sociologist Martin Albrow.[1] Physical borders no longer restrict nations or corporations, and they are expanding globally. Product prices and supply are shaped in free market economy by the interactions of producer, supply and consumer demand, all of which contribute to a healthy competition which is advantageous to consumers. Nevertheless, this competitive environment is compromised by collusion among producers such as formation of cartels which set prices, impose output restrictions or split markets.
Cartels hinder international trade, restrict consumer choice and artificially boost price. Due to their notoriously secretive and complicated legal system which places a heavy weight of proof in their detection and prosecution, it becomes increasingly difficult to deal with them. Competition law preserve market efficiency and consumer choice, leniency programmes is one of the remedies under this serving as a vital anti-cartel strategy to grant immunity or mitigated penalties to whistleblowers, organisations who collaborate with law enforcement, furnish essential information and acknowledge engaging in antitrust breaches.[2]
KEYWORDS: globalization, Anti-competition law, cartel, leniency
[1] Martin Albrow & Elizabeth King, Globalization, Knowledge and Society: Readings from International Sociology, Sage Publications 1990
[2] Baskaran Balasingham, The EU Leniency Policy: Reconciling Effectiveness and Fairness, Kluwer Law International 2017