In India the Competition Commision’s penalty on discount policy is overturned and the policy was found to be non-discriminatory.
By way of its order dated April 2 2014, the Competition Appellate Tribunal (COMPAT) of India set aside the Competition Commission’s findings against Schott Glass.
In March 2012 the commission imposed a fine of 56.6 million INR on Schott Glass for abusing its dominant position by imposing unfair and dissimilar discounts, which resulted in an adverse effect on converters in the downstream market. Schott Glass appealed to COMPAT; Kapoor Glass also filed a cross-appeal against the commission’s order for an increase in the penalty.
Relying on the minority order passed by Commissioner Geeta Gouri, COMPAT observed that the functional discount policy adopted by Schott Glass had been uniformly applied to all converters at the same flat rate since its inception and was thus non-discriminatory. On the issue of cross-examination, COMPAT observed that the commission should have accepted the parties’ application for cross-examination, even at the final stage of the inquiry, and should not have insisted that the parties make a separate application before the directorate general at an earlier stage. Interestingly, COMPAT fined Kapoor Glass 100,000 INR for lack of good faith.