CCP supports PAS to encourage self-regulatory mechanism

ISLAMABAD: The Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) has extended its support to the Pakistan Advertisers Society (PAS) encouraging a self-regulatory mechanism that ensures compliance with the Competition Law by the PAS member organisations in their marketing practices.

PAS membership comprises of various leading local and international brands, representing various sectors of the economy including FMCG, banks, insurance, telecommunication, oil marketing, and electrical goods. This forum brings together marketing and advertising professionals with the objective of promoting good industry practices towards responsible marketing and advertising.

As part of CCP’s advocacy strategy, in the latest engagement, the Commission reiterated its commitment to foster competition in all spheres of economic and commercial activities in Pakistan.

The major development of this engagement was CCP’s support extended to the PAS’s Code of Advertising Practice (COAP).

This is a significant step toward promoting a self-regulatory mechanism in ensuring responsible marketing and advertising activities with the least intervention needed from the Regulator. The CCP Officials highlighted that true and fair advertising is an important responsibility towards the consumers and the society at large.

The CCP supported the Code as it aims to promote the best professional and ethical practices in the field of advertising, besides CCP facilitated an enabling environment in the economy for commercial activities.

The contents of the code are largely aligned with the provisions of the Competition law and are to be self-monitored and implemented by the PAS council. The main focus is to deter misleading and deceptive marketing toward consumers and ensure that best practices are in place.

In this latest engagement, it was also deliberated that false and misleading information on digital platforms particularly through AI, is an emerging challenge to be jointly addressed to protect the consumers.

PAS officials apprised that they are expecting further expansion in their membership and would appreciate that trainings are also conducted for their member organizations including sector-specific trainings. CCP officials appreciated the role PAS is playing as a focal point in various aspects and its expansion is a confirmation of it.

The CCP delegation was led by Salman Amin (Member) accompanied by two DGs, Shahzad Hussain and Ahmed Qadir. The PAS was represented by Qamar Abbas, Executive Director, Afsheen Rizavi, GM whereas the two PAS council members who joined were Asif Aziz Chief Business Officer-Jazz and Syed Usman Qaiser, Head of Marketing, Jubilee Life Insurance Company Ltd.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024