CCI General Regulations 2024: filing fees, evidence and confidentiality

Rules, conditions and exceptions

• The General Regulations were notified on 17 September 2024 and contain 57 regulations. They are distinct from the Combinations Regulations, 2024 and the Criteria of Combination Rules. Regulation 57 repeals the 2009 General Regulations with express savings; this guide’s map identifies the actual 2024 provisions.
• Regulation 10 requires the information/reference to identify parties and addresses, the chronology and cause-of-action date, the alleged contraventions with supporting evidence, earlier substantially similar CCI decisions, relief and related litigation. The contents and attachments require a verifying affidavit. A filing after three years requires the stated condonation application and fee, rather than an unexplained old chronology.
• Regulation 11 specifies who signs for an individual, HUF, company, firm, association or other body. A company signatory must have the required board authority. Counsel may also sign; a counsel signature alone is not a substitute for every entity-authority requirement.
• Regulations 12-13 distinguish the stated physical/transmission channels from authenticated electronic form under the Commission’s public-notice framework. Additional relied-on documents are filed as an indexed, serially numbered paper book with an affidavit within fourteen days under Regulation 12(2). The official CCI filing guidance also specifies the current presentation requirements and copies; a casual unverified email is not automatically a valid information.
• Regulation 16 has category-specific defect-notice and cure periods, and separately provides seven-day scrutiny and seven-day cure for interlocutory/miscellaneous applications. Failure to cure can cause invalidity; the regulation addresses forfeiture and fresh filing. Do not describe initial delivery as final admission.
• Regulations 17 and 21 distinguish the “as far as possible” prima facie timetable from the ordinarily ninety-day DG-report direction and the Commission’s extension power. Report deadlines and a complainant’s statutory three-year information limitation are different periods.
• Regulation 36 requires cogent confidentiality reasons, specified self-certifications, an expiry date and an affidavit. The confidential version uses the prescribed red markings and must have an exact non-confidential counterpart with conspicuous omissions. This supports the existing practice of separating sensitive exhibits instead of labelling the whole case file secret.
• A party seeking a confidentiality ring after the non-confidential DG report normally applies within ten days; the stated further seven-day sufficient-cause provision is separate. Undertakings normally follow within ten days of the ring order, with the stated further five-day provision. Access remains subject to CCI’s order, participant restrictions and the other timelines in Regulation 36.
• Regulation 50(1) sets the information-fee categories: Rs 6,000 for an individual/HUF; Rs 12,000 for the listed NGO/consumer-association/co-operative/trust category; Rs 50,000 for the specified firm/company with preceding-year turnover up to Rs 2 crore; Rs 1,25,000 above Rs 2 crore and up to Rs 50 crore; and Rs 6,00,000 for the residual category. These figures match CCI’s current filing guidance; the regulation separately permits an adjustment by CCI order linked to the stated index.
• Interlocutory fees under Regulation 50(2) are separate: Rs 500 for individual/HUF, Rs 1,000 for the listed non-profit/co-operative/trust category or specified firm/company up to Rs 2 crore, and Rs 5,000 otherwise. Miscellaneous applications have their own Regulation 50(3) schedule. An interlocutory request for more time is not a fresh information or a merger notice.
• Regulations 38 and 51 govern inspection/certified copies, subject to confidentiality and the internal-document restriction. The stated inspection fee is Rs 2,500 per day per case and certified copies cost Rs 20 per page. Regulation 9 excludes the trigger day in the prescribed computation and deals with an expiry on a closed-office day.
• The actual filing bundle should connect each allegation to an exhibit, identify the authorised signatory, give the cause-of-action chronology, separate confidential and public versions, and retain proof of the applicable fee and delivery. The General Regulations govern process; they do not themselves prove an alleged section 3 or section 4 contravention.

Provision map

Act references identify the English consolidation on the linked WIPO Lex publication page and give its PDF-page number. Gazette references link to the named official PDF.

Worked example

Example: a business reports exclusionary conduct and submits competitor pricing spreadsheets to CCI. Its counsel separately supports the alleged abuse with a market explanation and uses the General Regulations’ confidential treatment process for genuinely sensitive exhibits, rather than assuming the mere complaint prevents disclosure. For a hypothetical company with preceding-year turnover of Rs 3 crore, the Regulation 50(1) information fee is Rs 1,25,000; an ordinary interlocutory application falls in the separate Rs 5,000 residual IA category. Two days of inspection plus twelve certified pages illustrate Rs 2,500 × 2 + Rs 20 × 12 = Rs 5,240 under Regulation 51.

Practical controls and evidence

For a proceeding, create a document bundle with chronology, authorised signatory, relevant market definition, evidence exhibits and confidential annexures. Keep a public/non-confidential submission where required. Track the Commission’s deficiency messages, inspection rights and confidentiality rulings rather than assuming initial upload concludes admission.

Common mistakes

• Using the individual information fee for a company in another category.
• Treating a confidentiality stamp as a supported Regulation 36 request.
• Using the General-Regulations information fee as a merger-notification fee.

Primary sources

• CCI (General) Regulations 2024, notification 17 September 2024. Regulations 1-57; English PDF pages 35-57, particularly 10-16, 36, 38 and 50-51.
• Competition Act 2002, Act 12 of 2003, consolidation through Act 9 of 2023. Section 19 and sections 36/57; PDF pages 17, 26-27 and 40.
• CCI: current ATD filing guidance, information and application fees. Current CCI ATD filing guidance, retrieved 25 October 2026; signing, format/copies and Regulation 50 fee categories.

Competition law guide reviewed on 25 October 2026. The Act consolidation is read with the national amending Act, its commencement notifications and the specific CCI instruments identified here. Examples are hypothetical and distinguish statutory limits from an actual Commission or Tribunal determination.