Regulation 4 - Grant of lesser penalty - CCI (Lesser Penalty) Regulations, 2009

4. Grant of lesser penalty. Subject to the conditions laid down in regulation 3, the applicant may be granted benefit of lesser penalty than leviable under clause (b) of section 27 of the Act, as the commission may decide, in the following manner, namely;- (a) The applicant may be granted benefit of reduction in penalty up to or equal to one hundred per cent, if the applicant is the first to make a vital disclosure by submitting evidence of a cartel, enabling the Commission to form a prima-facie opinion regarding the existence of a cartel which is alleged to have violated section 3 of the Act and the Commission did not, at the time of application, have sufficient evidence to form such an opinion: Provided that the Commission may also grant benefit of reduction in penalty up to or equal to one hundred percent, if the applicant is the first to make a vital disclosure by submitting such evidence which establishes the contravention of section 3 of the Act in a matter under investigation and the Commission, or the Director General did not, at the time of application, have sufficient evidence to establish such a contravention: Provided further that the application for the benefit of reduction in penalty up to or equal to one hundred per cent will only be considered, if at the time of the application, no other applicant has been granted such benefit by the Commission (b) The applicants who are subsequent to the first applicant may also be granted benefit of reduction in penalty on making a disclosure by submitting evidence, which in the opinion of the Commission, may provide significant added value to the evidence already in possession of the Commission or the Director General, as the case may be, to establish the existence of the cartel, which is alleged to have violated section 3 of the Act. Explanation For the purposes of these regulations, ―added value‖ means the extent to which the evidence provided enhances the ability of the Commission or the Director General, as the case may be, to establish the existence of a cartel, which is alleged to have violated section 3 of the Act. (c) The reduction in monetary penalty referred to in clause (b) shall be in the following order- (i) the applicant marked as second in the priority status may be granted reduction of monetary penalty up to or equal to fifty percent of the full penalty leviable; and (ii) the applicant(s) marked as third in the priority status may be granted reduction of penalty up to or equal to thirty percent of the full penalty leviable