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ARTICLE · 04 DECEMBER 2020

Non-Compete Covenants Out Of The CCI's Merger Control Net

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In a positive development, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) has removed the Non-Compete Covenants (NCCs) disclosure requirement from merger filings.

IndiaAntitrust/Competition Law
Anisha Chand
Anisha Chand
Pranjal Prateek
Pranjal Prateek
Swati Bala
Swati Bala
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In a positive development, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) has removed the Non-Compete Covenants (NCCs) disclosure requirement from merger filings. To that effect, the CCI amended the Competition Commission of India (Procedure in regard to the transaction of business relating to combinations) Regulations, 2011 on 26 November 2020 (Amendment).

Prior to the Amendment, the CCI's Form I (short merger Form) required notifying parties to provide details of NCCs agreed between them (including its scope, territorial extent, and temporal duration) and corresponding justifications as a precondition to the CCI's merger clearance. Until 2017, the CCI in appropriate cases required parties to restrict the scope of NCCs, where it viewed them as excessive, disproportionate, or not necessary for implementing the concerned transactions.

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