FORTHCOMING EVENTS
| forthcoming eventS |
Symposium
on WTO’s July Framework Agreement |
Towards a Functional Competition Policy for India: Project Review Meeting Saturday-Sunday, 30-31st October 2004, Jaipur While the country is poised to implement a new competition law, concerns have been expressed that a lack of understanding of the policy issues, and the nature and extent of prevalence of different types of anti-competitive practices in India will pose a major challenge. It may be noted in this context that despite competition policy being a complex issue, there has not been much of research in this area in India. Against this backdrop, CUTS has taken up the project ‘Towards a Functional Competition Policy for India’ (FunComp) to get a better understanding of the competition scenario in India. This will help:
As an outcome of this project, a report entitled, ‘Towards a Functional Competition Policy for India’, covering various issues affecting competition in the marketplace, would be produced. This report is divided into twenty-two chapters. The project report is halfway towards completion. Most of the drafts have been received and forwarded to experts for their comments. We are expecting to receive the revised drafts by mid-October. CUTS C-CIER plans to organise a two-day project review meeting on the weekend of 30-31st October in Jaipur to:
The venue for the meeting is ‘Chokhi Dhani’. This five star resort is an ethnic village having traditional huts & cottages. Here one can witness the pure Rajasthani style in every part of the resort. For further Information, please contact: Mr Manish
Agarwal, |
Peer Group Review Meeting on “Stocktaking of Progress towards Sustainability” India International Centre, New Delhi, India, October 28, 2004 CUTS is conducting a pilot study entitled, “Stocktaking of Progress towards Sustainability (SoPS)”, supported by the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India, the peer group review meting of which will be held on October 28, 2004 at the India International Centre, New Delhi, India. The SoPS project studies how certain environment related laws are implemented in India and their appropriateness vis-à-vis the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation and the UN Guidelines for Consumer Protection.
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Seminar on "Can Africa trade her way out of poverty" 25th to 26th October 2004, Kenya CUTS- Centre for International Trade, Economics & Environment, Nairobi in partnership with Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, will be holding a regional seminar on trade and poverty in Kenya from 25th to 26th October 2004. The seminars main theme will be Pro- Poor Trade Policy for Sub Sahara Africa. It will draw participants from Africa and Asia, and will serve as a platform for South-South dialogue on lessons and experiences of trade liberalisation and its impact on the poor. The main issues planned for discussion at the meeting are:
Experiences on these issues from several countries will be shared. |
Consumer
friendly Cable TV System Seminar organised by Consumer Unity & Trust Society CUTS had undertaken a project on Cable TV in India with the support of Ministry of Consumer Affairs. The project comprises of research and field surveys in the four metros. The main findings are: 7 out of 10 households do not have the option to change their cable operator. With no choice available, most of these households face a frequent hike in cable subscription charges. While majority of subscribers receive more than 50 channels, most of them usually watch less than 15 channels 78% households pay between Rs.150-300 per month, with Kolkata being the least expensive metro and Delhi the most expensive. Majority of respondents (63%) are not in favour of accepting Conditional Access System (CAS). 8 out of 10 respondents do not want any increase in their monthly bill, if CAS is implemented. The Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act 1995, was amended in 2002 providing for transmission of programmes through an addressable system (popularly referred to as CAS). However, the notification on CAS was withdrawn on the recommendations of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), the designated regulatory for broadcasting and cable services. While TRAI is working on its recommendations on CAS, several alternative technologies, such as DTH and broadband, have emerged. This requires the regulator to look at the full spectrum of issues involved in broadcast and cable regulation. In this context, CUTS has prepared a Draft Cable TV Bill for further deliberations. To discuss these issues, CUTS is organising a one-day seminar on “Consumer friendly Cable TV System” at New Delhi, on Monday, 18th October 2004. The meeting seeks to: Sensitise policy makers on the need for strengthening the cable TV regulation in the country; Sensitise cable TV operators, channel providers and others on consumer interests and inject a sense of self-regulation between and amongst them to ensure that these interests are protected; Provide a platform to various stakeholders to air their views on the findings of the project report and come out with recommendations, which would lead to a consumer friendly cable TV system in the country. For agenda, please click here. For further Information, please contact: Mr Manish
Agarwal, |
Project
Launch Meeting 8th October 2004, Ambassador Hotel, New Delhi, India CUTS Centre for International Trade, Economics & Environment in partnership with Research & Information System for Non-aligned & Other Developing Countries (RIS) is organising Launch Meeting of the Project titled “South-South Economic Cooperation: Exploring Mekong-Ganga Relationship” on 8th October 2004 at Ambassador Hotel, New Delhi. The Launch Meeting endeavours to: To facilitate cross-fertilisation of experiences and lessons learnt on economic (trade and investment) cooperation between India and select Mekong countries in order to develop appropriate policy responses. To discuss project-related activities and methodology for the implementation. Representatives from academicia, business chambers, government and inter-governmental organizations and civil society have been invited. The meeting will be interactive in nature, so as to take on board diverse views on economic cooperation between India and select Mekong countries, viz. Cambodia, Lao PDR and Vietnam. For more information, contact: Shailly
Gupta Ph: 91.141.228
2821(3 Lines) |
Seminar on ‘Functional Competition Policy For India’, Hyderabad 5th OCTOBER 2004, HYDERABAD, INDIA CUTS Centre for Competition, Investment & Economic Regulation (C-CIER), Jaipur, India, is organizing the subject mentioned seminar on 5th October 2004 in Hyderabad, India. This seminar seeks to bring national & international experts on competition to facilitate exchange of ideas for developing a functional competition policy for India. The framework of the seminar would encompass various components of competition policy in the Indian context from its evolution to the current scenario at national and international level. The Seminar is divided into two parts. The first part would be on international experiences in competition policy and lessons for India. This would focus on current issues of competition policy, cartels of international dimension and consumer protection in context of developing countries. The second part would be on national and sub-national experiences from India. In this part, main findings from an ongoing project undertaken by CUTS C-CIER on Functional Competition Policy for India would be presented besides focusing on evolution of competition policy & law in India and competition regulation interface. For agenda, please click here. For further Information, please contact: Mr
Manish Agarwal, |
CUTS Centre for International Trade, Economics & Environment (CUTS-CITEE) in association with the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, New Delhi (FES India) is organising the National Seminar: “The Common Minimum Programme and Its Prospects on Economic Reforms” on 14-15 September 2004, New Delhi. The objectives are to:
On each day, participants representing various groups and sectors will discuss and debate issues relating to the Common Minimum Programme, with focus on:
For more information, contact: Purnima
Purohit/Shailly Gupta Ph:
91.141.228 2821(3 Lines) |
REGIONAL LAUNCH MEETING OF 7-UP2 PROJECT CUTS Centre for Competition Investment & Economic Regulation (CUTS C-CIER), in collaboration with Bangladesh Enterprise Institute (BEI), Dhaka, Bangladesh will organize the Regional Launch Meeting of its project entitled “Advocacy and Capacity Building on Competition Policy and Law in Asia” (7-Up2 Project) on 22-23 September in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The project aims to accelerate the process towards functional competition policy and law for selected countries (Vietnam, Cambodia, Lao PDR, Bangladesh, Nepal and India) and advance an enabling environment for the law and policy to be better enforced. Participants from South and South East Asian countries would share their country experiences as regards competition with representatives from inter-governmental organisations, competition authorities, academic institutions and the civil society. The relationship between competition policy and law, economic development and poverty reduction; the inter-linkages between competition and consumer protection issues would also be deliberated upon during the course of the discussion. For
further information, please contact Ms. Alice Pham at 7up2@cuts-international.org; |
Consumer Unity & Trust Society (CUTS)D-217, Bhaskar Marg, Bani Park Jaipur 302016, Rajasthan, India Email: cuts@cuts-international.org
Phone: 91.141.228 2821-3 |
D–217, Bhaskar Marg, Bani Park, Jaipur 302 016, Rajasthan, India Ph: +91(0)141-228 2821-3, Fax: +91(0)141-228 2485 Hosted by: www.fullestop.com |  |
