According to Section 2(c) of the Competition Act, "Cartel” includes an association of

producers, sellers, distributers, traders or service providers who, by agreement

amongst themselves, limit, control or attempt to control the production,
distribution, sale or price of, or, sale in goods or provision of services."

Introduction

Cartel is a term which the Americans referred as 'Trusts' or 'combinations'. Cartel

is a formal association of manufactures or producers, who tries to limit the
competition or to impose restriction on trade or business. The definition of cartel
is given under section 2(c) of the act. It includes both trade as well as competition.
Cartels always aims at improving the position of profit of the members. Cartel is a
group of independent producers whose objective is to increase their profits by
means of unfair trade practices or by controlling selling prices.

Anti-competitive agreements (Section 3) are prohibited under the competition act.

Anti-Competitive agreements which falls under competition law are typically
prescribed with two types of agreements. Under two types of agreements
Horizontal agreements are those among competitors and vertical agreements are
those relating to an actual or potential relationship of purchasing or selling to each
other. Cartels are kinds of horizontal agreements, which have adverse effect on
competition. It hampers promotion and sustenance of competition in markets. It
fails to protect the interest of the consumers and restricts the freedom of trade
carried out by other participants present in the market. Cartel is nothing but an
association of manufactures or producers, who tries to limit the competition or to
impose restriction on trade or business.

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The main features of cartel are given below:

1 - There should be an agreement, including arrangement and understanding.

2- The parties in this agreement should be engaged in trade of same or identical

goods or services.

3- The agreement should be aimed at, to limit or control or attempt to control the

production, distribution, sale or price of good and services.

Objectives of the study

The main objective is to understand the anti-competitive agreements and its cartel
forms which results have appreciable adverse effect on competition.

The objectives are shown below:

1- To understand the anti-competitive agreements at different stages or levels.

2- To analyze the effects of cartels.
3- To identify the objectives of the competing firms.
4- To learn the Exclusive distribution agreement & supply.
5- To know the effects of interim order.
6- To understand the nature of cease and desist order.
7- Research studies of landmark & relevant cases.

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Methodology to be employed

The Study of different Characteristics (Price Fixation, Market Sharing, Output

restricting and bid rigging) will help me in understanding more about anti-
competitive agreements.

The following types of research methodology can be adopted for this study. The
same, can be classified as –

1- Intervention or experimental research.

2- Associational or correlational research.
3- Qualitative Survey or Content analysis.

The Provisions relating to anti-competitive practices are highlighted down below:

Section 3 - Anti-competitive agreements

Section 19 - Grounds relating to inquiry in certain agreements.

Section 26 - Procedure of the inquiry.

Section 27 - says about the orders which may be passed by the Commission.

Section 32 - says about the extra territorial jurisdiction of the Act.

Section 33 - deals with the power to issue interim order.

Section 36 - gives a clear idea about the power of the commission to regulate its
own procedure.

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Section 39 - says about the execution of order of the commission imposing money
penalty.

Section 46 - is one of the most important sections regarding cartel detection. It says
about the lesser penalty process of the commission. It should be read with the
regulation which gives minute detail of this system.

Section 48 - says about the liability of the company and its members regarding
contravening of any of the provisions of the Act

Thus as described, Cartels are a kind of anti-competitive agreements, which is explicit

or implicit agreements between enterprises or associations not to compete on price,
product or customers but to fix prices, limit production and supply, allocate market
share or sales quotas, or engage in collusive bidding or bid-rigging in one or more
markets. Therefore, resulting in an anti-competitive practices which is harmful and
remedies under the competition act, can assume, to desist such practices which
would harm the growth of economy in the market.

Bibliography
1- Dr. H.K. Saharay, Textbook on Competition law, Universal law publishing,2016
2- Commercial law Essays: Competition Law and Cartels in India. (n.d.). LawTeacher Web site.
Retrieved February26 ,2018, from
https://www.lawteacher.net/free-law-essays/commercial-law/competition-law-and-
cartels-in-india-commercial-law-essay.php
3- Cartels And Competiton: An Antithetical Relationship. (January15.2015.). Lawctopus Web site.
Retrieved February26 ,2018, from
https://www.lawctopus.com/academike/cartels/

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