Complaint against Samsung India alleging unfair trade practices, dismissed

Competition Commission of India (CCI): CCI has dismissed a complaint filed against Samsung India, alleging unfair business practices with respect to sale and supply of spare parts and equipments for its mobile phones. The grievance of the Informant primarily pertained to the alleged conduct of the Authorised Service Centre for not providing satisfactory services i.e., charging excessive amount for repair of his faulty mobile phone. He had alleged that such restrictive practices adopted by the Opposite Parties in conjunction with their respective Authorised Service Centres results in denial of market access to independent repair workshops which is in contravention of the provisions of Section 3 and 4 of the Competition Act, 2002. It was further submitted that by restricting sale and supply of genuine spare parts, diagnostic tools, equipments, technical information and know-how etc., Samsung has created a monopoly over supply of such genuine spare parts, diagnostic tools etc. and indirectly determining the sale price of the spare parts and repair and maintenance service charges. After perusal of the information, CCI observed that no prima facie case of contravention of the provisions of the Competition Act, made out against Samsung in the matter. While terming the dispute as “consumer dispute”, CCI further noted that, “the Informant has submitted that like other Samsung Customer Care Centres, the Authorised Service Centre is situated in the residential area which is in violation of the Consumer Protection Act and that the Opposite Parties are not taking due care of its customers and are thus allowed to be exploited by their Authorised Service Centre by overcharging for repair of the mobiles. Thus, it is basically a dispute between a consumer and its service provider where consumer alleges deficiency in service being provided by the service provider. The Commission is of the opinion that it does not involve any issue relating to competition which attracts the provisions of the Act.” (Rajender Kumar Gupta v. Samsung India, 2014 CCI 76, decided on December 5, 2014)