Joint sitting of parliament passes trade dispute-, trade bodies-related bills

ISLAMABAD: The joint sitting of the parliament, on Monday, passed “The Trade Dispute Resolution Bill, 2023” to establish a commission attached with the Ministry of Commerce to settle the dispute between trading parties and “The Trade Organizations (Amendment) Bill, 2023” to hold elections at a time in all the chambers of commerce and industry and to increase their tenure from one to two years.

Both the bills were moved separately by Minister for Commerce Syed Naveed Qamar in the joint sitting of the Parliament.

The House passed the bills with a majority incorporating minor amendments. The Trade Dispute Resolution Bill, 2023 provides for the establishment of a comprehensive regime in Pakistan for the swift and effective resolution of disputes relating to the export and import of goods and services including through E-Commerce.

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Clause 61 of the bill described as “All law enforcement agencies and authorities in the federal and the provinces shall be under an obligation to provide and render full and complete assistance to the Commission as and when the secretariat thereof may require such assistance.”

According to objects and reasons of “The Trade Dispute Resolution Bill, 2023”, “as Pakistan embarks upon trade liberalization and expansion so does the probability of trade dispute arise between trading parties. If left unsupervised and unguided, such disputes could lead to serious conflicts between governments in addition to damaging private sector business interests.”

Moreover, the absence of a proper Trade Dispute Resolution Mechanism in Pakistan is adversely affecting its ranking in ease of doing business. In order to overcome this, a dedicated government body, legally mandated to resolve international trade disputes was approved by the Cabinet of Pakistan under the Strategic Trade Policy Framework (STPF).

Trade Dispute Resolution Organization has been established as an attached department of the Ministry of Commerce. It is a platform which helps to prevent the detrimental effects of unresolved international trade conflicts and to mitigate the imbalance between stronger and weaker players by having their disputes settled on the basis of rules.

With regards to the Trade Organizations Amendment Bill, 2023, the minister for commerce said the purpose of this bill was to extend the tenure of the chambers of commerce and industry and their apex body, Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry from one year to two years. He said the elections of these chambers will be held this year.

He said that the bill would streamline the elections process for the Chambers and the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry. He said now the elections would be held in the same year.

At the outset, the joint sitting offered Fateha for those who died in the recent train accident in Nawabshah and other incidents in the country. Later, the joint session was adjourned to meet again on Wednesday at 5:30 pm.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023