NEW DELHI: India’s antitrust body has asked the Supreme Court to hear legal challenges to an investigation of Amazon and Walmart’s Flipkart e-commerce platforms, saying those challenges, filed by Samsung, Vivo and others at Indian high courts, were aiming to scuttle the probe.
In a filing on Dec. 3, reviewed by Reuters and not released publicly, the Competition Commission of India asked the court to hear 23 challenges, filed by Samsung, Vivo, and several vendors on the Amazon and Flipkart platforms, to enable the case to be decided quickly.
Amazon declined to comment, while Flipkart, Samsung, Vivo and the competition commission did not respond to requests for comment.
The investigation is a major regulatory challenge for Amazon and Flipkart in a market where e-commerce sales are set to exceed $160 billion by 2028, up from $57 billion to $60 billion in 2023.
The commission’s investigation unit concluded in August that Amazon and Flipkart breached India’s antitrust laws by favoring selected sellers on their websites. It also found that smartphone companies such as Samsung and Vivo broke those laws by colluding with the two e-commerce companies to exclusively launch products online.
Since the findings, almost two dozen lawsuits across five Indian high courts have been filed by some Amazon and Flipkart vendors, as well as by Samsung and Vivo, to block the investigation as they want to “debilitate and scuttle” the process, the commission said.
The separate lawsuits, if allowed, “will lead to absurdity since it will interfere with the flexibility of the (commission’s) Director General to carry out investigation in any matter.”
Amazon and Flipkart have faced criticism from smaller retailers for years over their business practices, saying they have suffered due to deep discounts and preferential treatment meted out by the platforms.
Amazon and Flipkart deny any wrongdoing.
A Reuters investigation in 2021, based on Amazon internal documents, found the company gave preferential treatment for years to a small group of sellers and used them to bypass Indian laws.
The current commission investigation started back in 2020 but has faced many delays.
Most of the 23 lawsuits filed across India in the latest challenge to the case accuse the commission of not following due process during its investigation.
The commission’s filing asking for the 23 cases to be transferred to the Supreme Court is likely to be heard this week, a lawyer familiar with the proceedings said.
India antitrust body seeks Supreme Court hearing to expedite Amazon, Flipkart cases
https://arab.news/n2mf5
India antitrust body seeks Supreme Court hearing to expedite Amazon, Flipkart cases
- India’s competition commission said in August that Amazon and Flipkart breached antitrust laws by favoring selected sellers on their websites
- Since the findings, almost two dozen lawsuits across five Indian high courts have been filed by some Amazon and Flipkart vendors
Australia hits Afghan Taliban officials with sanctions, travel bans
- The Taliban has said it respects women’s rights, in line with its interpretation of Islamic law and local custom
- The measures were part of a new Australian government framework that enabled it to “directly impose its own sanctions and travel bans to increase pressure on the Taliban, targeting the oppression of the Afghan people,” Wong said
SYDNEY: Australia on Saturday imposed financial sanctions and travel bans on four officials in Afghanistan’s Taliban government over what it said was a deteriorating human rights situation in the country, especially for women and girls.
Australia’s Foreign Minister Penny Wong said the officials were involved “in the oppression of women and girls and in undermining good governance or the rule of law” in the Taliban-run country.
Australia was one of several nations which in August 2021 pulled troops out of Afghanistan, after being part of a NATO-led international force that trained Afghan security forces and fought the Taliban for two decades after Western-backed forces ousted the Islamist militants from power.
The Taliban, since regaining power in Afghanistan, has been criticized for deeply restricting the rights and freedoms of women and girls through bans on education and work.
The Taliban has said it respects women’s rights, in line with its interpretation of Islamic law and local custom.
Wong said in a statement the sanctions targeted three Taliban ministers and the group’s chief justice, accusing them of restricting access for girls and women “to education, employment, freedom of movement and the ability to participate in public life.”
The measures were part of a new Australian government framework that enabled it to “directly impose its own sanctions and travel bans to increase pressure on the Taliban, targeting the oppression of the Afghan people,” Wong said.
Australia took in thousands of evacuees, mostly women and children, from Afghanistan after the Taliban retook power in the war-shattered South Asian country, where much of the population now relies on humanitarian aid to survive.
