By Hartley Charlton
Apple, Google and Amazon are calling on India to reconsider its proposed digital competition bill, citing concerns about increased user costs and potential disinvestment (via Reuters).
A US lobby group representing major tech companies has asked the Indian government to rethink a proposed law that closely mirrors the European Union Digital Markets Act . The request was made in a letter sent by the US India Business Council (USIBC), an affiliate of the US Chamber of Commerce, to India's Ministry of Corporate Affairs. The proposed Digital Competition Bill aims to regulate the market power of large digital companies with global revenues exceeding US$30 billion and having at least 10 million local users.
The Digital Competition Bill aims to introduce measures to prevent companies from exploiting non-public user data and from providing preferences to your own services compared to the services of competitors. The bill would also remove restrictions on app downloads.
USIBC has expressed concern that these rules could lead to serious consequences for companies such as Apple. According to the council, the draft Indian law is “much broader” than the EU rules, which could potentially lead to less investment in India, higher prices for digital services and a reduction in the range of services available to consumers.
The Indian government says that the new law is needed to address the growing market power of a few large digital companies that “have enormous control over the market.” The proposed legislation includes provisions for fines of up to 10 percent of a company's annual global turnover for violations.
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Tags: Apple Antitrust, India[ 118 comments ]
