Under the mandate given by section 49 of the Competition Act, 2002, Competition Commission of India (CCI) takes measures to engage in competition advocacy, creating awareness and imparting training on competition issues. This is done, inter-alia, by participation of Chairperson, Members and officials of the Commission in various conferences, seminars and workshops organized by various stakeholders. CCI, however, has not participated in any commercial event.

 During financial year 2015-16, CCI has, till date, participated in 55 advocacy events, out of which 04 have been organized by ASSOCHAM. The invites to such conferences are from business associations/stakeholders and the Commission does not engage with the individual sponsors, if any, and members of the associations.

 This was stated by Shri Arun Jaitley, Minister of Corporate Affairs in written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha.

Competition advocacy under section 49: CCI restricts participation to stakeholder conferences and avoids commercial sponsorship ties. Under the mandate of section 49 of the Competition Act, 2002, the Competition Commission of India conducts competition advocacy by participating in stakeholder-organized conferences, seminars and workshops while maintaining a policy of not taking part in commercial events; invitations come from associations and the Commission does not engage with individual sponsors.