The Competition Commission of India (Commitment) Amendment Regulations, 2026 is a set of provisions issued by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) on August 18, 2026, to amend the existing Competition Commission of India (Commitment) Regulations, 2024. This amendment is a type of regulatory provision that governs the procedural aspects of the commitment mechanism under the Competition Act, 2002.
The commitment mechanism itself originated from the Competition (Amendment) Act, 2023, which introduced Section 48B to the parent Act. It was created to solve the problem of lengthy antitrust litigation by allowing enterprises facing an inquiry for anti-competitive agreements (under Section 3(4)) or abuse of dominant position (under Section 4) to voluntarily offer corrective measures to address the CCI's concerns, thereby facilitating early market correction and conserving investigative resources. The mechanism is not available for cartels.
The 2026 Amendment primarily works by extending key procedural timelines and streamlining the application process. It amended Regulation 3(3) to extend the time limit for filing a commitment application from 45 days to 60 days. The period for the CCI's preliminary consideration of an application was increased from seven to 15 working days. Furthermore, the overall timeline for concluding the commitment proceedings was raised from 130 days to 180 working days. The amendment also restructured the process for rectifying defects in an application, requiring the applicant to refile within 10 working days. The regulations connect directly to the Competition Act, 2002, and the broader settlement and commitment framework introduced by the Competition (Amendment) Act, 2023. The amendment also updated all cross-references in Regulations 9, 11, 13, and 14 from the CCI (General) Regulations, 2009, to the newer CCI (General) Regulations, 2024.