Abstract

Arbitration and competition law are regarded to be the opposite poles of a magnet. Arbitration resolves disputes involving parties in the agreement. Whereas, competition law cases are resolved by courts since they affect the public as a whole. Arbitrability of competition law in other countries such as USA and EU are far more coherent than in India. There are no substitute methods provided by the Indian Competition Act, 2002 other than approaching domestic courts. Moreover, the statutory powers of Competition Commission of India are limited. In India, the bitterness towards arbitration is due to the concerns regarding the public interests; it is believed that arbitration will harm the public interests if competition law disputes are resolved by arbitration. Indian courts should try to appear more approachable to commercial parties by laying down a more predictable competition law dispute regime. As India is expanding into a powerhouse in world economy, there lies a need to develop an efficient and effective way for arbitrability of disputes, in consistency with US and EU law.

This paper will be part of the upcoming TDM Special Issue on "International Investment and Competition Law in AND with the Global South". More information here www.transnational-dispute-management.com/news.asp?key=1732