In Brief
The Supreme Court held that trade unions and workers' associations, when acting as collective platforms of enterprises engaged in economic activity, fall within the Competition Act, 2002. The Coordination Committee and EIMPA violated Section 3(3)(b) by collectively pressuring television channels to stop broadcasting a Hindi serial dubbed into Bangla, limiting supply and market access. Although trade unions enjoy Article 19(1)(a) protection, this does not exempt anti-competitive agreements affecting competition in relevant markets. The Court rejected arguments based on language protection and local industry safeguarding, holding that consumers are entitled to competitive choice and that protectionist measures contradicting competition principles ultimately harm the protected industry.
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