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Centre on Law, Regulation and Technology (CLRT)
Centre on Law, Regulation and Technology (CLRT)
The Centre on Law, Regulation and Technology (CLRT) advocates legal and economic regulation that places consumer welfare and innovation at the core of the modern economy. CLRT aims at blending academic rigour with policy research to inform decision making on economic activities related but not limited to telecommunications, new technology, and digitization. The Covid-19 pandemic has catalysed the uptake of digital technologies, reaching masses hitherto untouched. The Centre endeavours to harness the process of digitization, through a robust legal and regulatory framework, towards ensuring welfare.
CLRT is a platform that nurtures ideas by bringing together regulators, academia, industry, policymakers, and civil society. Through its inter-disciplinary research work, the Centre aims to periodically contribute to policy discourse through reports, expert analysis and research papers.
Areas of Expertise
- Artificial Intelligence and law
- Competition law
- Data governance
- Economic regulation
- Intellectual property
- Intermediary liability of digital platforms
- Law and innovation
EVENTS
Unfair Business Practices of E-Commerce Platforms and the Need for Ex-Ante Regulation for Digital Markets
A Reuters investigation in October 2021 revealed that Amazon, a leading e-commerce platform in India, copied products of retailers that it hosted and downgraded them in search rankings to promote Amazon’s private label allowing the firm to make profits at the cost of its rivals. Such practices potentially stifle innovation, erect entry barriers for small businesses and diminish trust in digital markets in general. The theoretical possibility of a dual role e-commerce platform— that of a marketplace and a retailer simultaneously—engaging in self-preferencing was suspected for a long time. The recent events in India lent evidence to the theoretical possibility of self-preferencing. While in the US, some lawmakers called for initiating criminal proceedings against Amazon for misleading the US Congress about its business practices, the European Union (EU) is debating ex-ante regulation for digital ‘gatekeepers’ that address practices such as self-preferencing and interoperability.
Despite being a prominent digital market, India does not have a regulatory framework to address anti-competitive and unfair practices in digital markets, where competition law is known to have limited efficacy. Against this backdrop, two separate panels in this conference addressed the following issues.
- Why has an ex-ante regulatory framework become critical in digital markets?
- What are the risks of not having a similar regulatory framework in India? Also, what are the institutional challenges facing the adoption of such tools?
- Do the ongoing efforts in the EU, Germany and the UK offer appropriate regulatory models even for emerging markets such as India?
Data Sharing for Good Health & Well-Being: India’s Way Forward to Achieving Sustainable Development Goal #3
The Center on Law Regulation and Technology (CLRT) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition, Munich to work on a project related to the benefits of data sharing in developing countries. The other partners in this project are the National Law School of India University, Bengaluru; Université virtuelle du Sénégal (UVS); and, Mackenzie Presbyterian University, Brazil. As part of this project, the Centre on Law, Regulation and Technology (CLRT) organized a workshop along with the National Law School of India University on September 8th and 9th entitled, “Data Sharing for Good Health & Well-Being: India’s Way Forward to Achieving Sustainable Development Goal #3’ at J.W. Marriott Hotel, Bengaluru. This was one of its kind event that witnessed participation from the industry, think tanks and academia alike.
To view the agenda of Data Sharing for Good Health and Well-Being, click here.
Roundtable Discussion- Digital Competition Bill
The BMU Centre on Law, Regulation, and Technology, recently convened a focussed roundtable discussion on the Digital Competition Bill at Indian International Centre (IIC). This closed-door session brought together leading experts like Aditya Bhattacharjea (Ex- Prof DSE), Rohit Prasad (MDI), Mansi Kedia (ICRIER), Uday Bhanu Sinha (DSE), Oindrila De (IEG), Debdatta Saha (SAU), Dinoo Muthappa (Talwar Thakur and Associates), Dr. Abha Yadav (NLU-Delhi), Nomesh Bolia (IIT-Delhi), Tarun Mangla (IIT-Delhi), Abishek Muthian (Independent product developer), and Shilpi Bhattacharya (JGLS) for a comprehensive exploration of the Bill's implications. The discussion centered on the merits of an ex-ante regulatory framework for digital markets, alongside critical considerations such as the justification for quantitative thresholds, Bill's substantive provisions, and the potential absence of both a formal regulatory dialogue and an efficiency defense.
The rising importance of data in policy and business has been well documented, with data sharing recognized as a tool for fostering development. The Indian government has been crafting a data governance framework, including the Digital Personal Data Protection Act (DPDA) 2023 and the Non-Personal Data Framework of 2020. Additionally, with support from iSPIRT, the government has been developing the unique Digital Public Good (DPG) infrastructure, which includes initiatives like AADHAR, Unified Payments Interface, Open Network for Digital Commerce, and Data Empowerment Protection Architecture. However, despite these developments, scholarly work on these issues from an Indian perspective remains limited, as evidenced by a quick search on Google Scholar. Given the high commercial stakes and potential societal harm, it is crucial to voice the thoughts of all stakeholders. Against this backdrop, the School of Law (SoL) at BML Munjal University organized a day-long conference on Data Law in India. The event provided a platform to discuss critical issues related to personal and non-personal data, featuring two panels and a keynote speech. To read the report, click here
Team
Director: Dr. Vikas Kathuria, Professor, School of Law (SoL)
Senior Fellows
- Prof. Shyam Menon, Vice Chancellor, BMU
- Dr. Sangeeta Dutta Gupta, Associate Professor, School of Management
- Dr. Kiran Sharma, Assistant Professor, School of Engineering & Technology
Fellows
- Saraswathy Vaidyanathan, Assistant Professor, School of Law
- Maitrey Singh, Faculty Associate, School of Law
Student Volunteers
- Harshit Manwani
- Harman Grover
- Kartik Goel
- Deepak Gupta