The Subordinate Legislation: A Consolidated Map

Most of the operative detail of Indian competition law is no longer in the Act. The thresholds, the computation of transaction value, the penalty base, the cost benchmarks for predatory pricing, the settlement discount, the leniency reductions, the confidentiality procedure and the recovery machinery are all in rules, regulations and guidelines, almost all of them made between March 2024 and the present. This note maps them: who made each, under what power, when it came into force, and what it actually governs.

1. The Three Sources

Rules are made by the Central Government under Section 63. They deal with matters the Act reserves to the Government, principally the criteria for combinations and the exemptions from notification.
Regulations are made by the Commission under Section 64, and since 2023 must be preceded by the consultation required by Section 64A: publication of a draft, comments for not less than twenty-one days, consideration of them, and a published general statement of response.
Guidelines are issued by the Commission under Section 64B. They are guidance rather than delegated legislation and bind the Commission to consistency rather than to an outcome.

2. The Instruments

Instrument	Source and date	What it governs
CCI (General) Regulations, 2024	Commission; notified September 2024, replacing the 2009 regulations	Procedure generally: filing, hearings, confidentiality and the confidentiality ring, inspection and copies, and the appointment of agencies to monitor orders
CCI (Combinations) Regulations, 2024	Commission; notified 9 September 2024, in force 10 September 2024	Merger notification: Forms I and II, fees, computation of transaction value, substantial business operations, green channel filing, review and timelines
CCI (Settlement) Regulations, 2024	Commission; in force 6 March 2024	Applications under Section 48A: timing, contents, stakeholder consultation, the settlement amount and the discount, implementation and monitoring
CCI (Commitment) Regulations, 2024	Commission; in force 6 March 2024	Applications under Section 48B: timing, contents, consultation, modification of the proposal, and the order closing the proceeding
CCI (Commitment) Amendment Regulations, 2026	Commission; dated 18 August 2026	Extends the filing window from forty-five to sixty days and extends the overall timeline of the commitment process
CCI (Lesser Penalty) Regulations, 2024	Commission; in force March 2024, replacing the 2009 regulations	Leniency: markers, priority and the reductions available, conditions, leniency plus, confidentiality, withdrawal and revocation
CCI (Determination of Turnover or Income) Regulations, 2024	Commission; March 2024	The base for penalties: what is included in and excluded from global turnover, income of an individual, and best judgment determination
Monetary Penalty Guidelines, 2024	Commission under Section 64B; 6 March 2024	The method of computing a penalty within the statutory ceiling, with aggravating and mitigating factors
Competition (Criteria of Combination) Rules, 2024	Central Government under Section 63(2)(ac); 9 September 2024	The green channel criteria for a notice under Section 6(4), including the definition of affiliate
Competition (Criteria for Exemption of Combinations) Rules, 2024	Central Government; 9 September 2024	The categories of transaction exempt from notification, formerly Schedule I to the 2011 regulations
Competition (Minimum Value of Assets or Turnover) Rules, 2024	Central Government; 9 September 2024	The small target exemption at four hundred and fifty crore rupees of assets or one thousand two hundred and fifty crore rupees of turnover, which does not apply to a deal value threshold transaction
CCI (Manner of Recovery of Monetary Penalty) Regulations, 2025	Commission; notified 25 February 2025, in force 27 February 2025	Demand notice, sixty days to pay, interest at one per cent a month, recovery certificate, attachment and reference to the income tax authorities
CCI (Determination of Cost of Production) Regulations, 2025	Commission; 6 May 2025, replacing the 2009 regulations	Cost benchmarks for predatory pricing: average variable cost as the default, with average total cost, average avoidable cost and long run average incremental cost available

3. How They Fit Together

Enforcement against agreements and abuse runs through the General Regulations for procedure, the Lesser Penalty Regulations where the contravention is a cartel, the Settlement and Commitment Regulations where it is a vertical agreement or an abuse, and the Cost of Production Regulations where predatory pricing is alleged.
Penalty runs through the Turnover or Income Regulations for the base, the Monetary Penalty Guidelines for the computation, and the Recovery Regulations for collection.
Merger control runs through the Combinations Regulations for procedure, the Criteria of Combination Rules for the green channel, the Criteria for Exemption Rules for exempt categories, and the Minimum Value Rules for the small target exemption.
Section 64A governs the making of all the regulations, and Section 64B the issue of guidelines.

⚠ Two habits worth acquiring

First, check the date. Every one of these instruments replaced something, and a great deal of published commentary still describes the earlier position: the 2009 general regulations, the 2011 combination regulations, the 2009 leniency regulations, the 2011 recovery regulations and the 2009 cost regulations have all gone. Second, check the source. A question about what must be notified is answered by rules made by the Government; a question about how it is notified is answered by regulations made by the Commission; a question about how a penalty is computed within the ceiling is answered by guidelines that are not legislation at all.

4. Related Topics and Provisions

Topic or provision	Connection
Guidelines under Section 64B	The third source, and its character
Public Consultation before Making Regulations: Section 64A	The procedure by which the regulations were made
Regulation of Combinations: Sections 5 and 6	The regime the merger instruments implement
Penalties under the Competition Act	The regime the penalty instruments implement
Sections 63, 64, 64A and 64B, Competition Act, 2002	The powers under which all of these are made