The Chairperson of Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP), Rahat Kaunain Hassan on Wednesday informed the Competition Consultative Group (CCG) that the Commission's compliance-oriented approach and lenient treatment towards undertakings, willing to correct their business behaviour, has started showing positive results.
Addressing the 10th meeting of the Competition Consultative Group here, she said that the enforcement actions of the CCP had encouraged the businesses to voluntarily take corrective measures to avoid anti-competitive practices. The several business undertakings, which approached the CCP with the aim to correct their business behaviour, received lenient treatment from the Commission, she said. She referred to the recent CCP order in a cartelisation case in which the Pakistan Jute Mills Association and 10 jute mills admitted their inadvertent violation and requested CCP for lenient treatment.
Rahat said that the punitive actions of CCP were not aimed to harass businesses but to discipline them and deter them from engaging in anti-competitive practices. She said that the Commission was striving to create level playing field for all businesses by promoting competition.
The 10th meeting of the Competition Consultative Group (CCG), a platform provided by the Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) for seeking advice and suggestions for better promotion of competition regime in Pakistan, was held here on Wednesday. This was the first meeting of CCG after CCP Chairperson Rahat Kaunain took the charge of office in July last year. The meeting was well attended by the heads of regulatory bodies, high profile officials of the government of Pakistan and representatives of the business community. They included the Chairman of Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP), Muhammad Ali, Chairman of Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority Tauqir Sadiq, Country Representative of Friedrich Naumann Foundation, Germany, Olaf Kellerhoff, Members of CCP Abdul Ghaffar, Dr Joseph Wilson, Vadiyya Khalil and Mueen Batlay, Director General Legal, CCP, Ikram Ul Haq Qureshi, President of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Pakistan Saqib Masood, senior officials of the Ministry of Industries, Pakistan Telecommunication Authority, representatives of Unilever Pakistan, JS Private Equity and Pakistan Business Council.
The CCP Chairperson gave an overview of the enforcement actions and initiatives of the Commission after her taking the charge. Despite several challenges during the last six months, CCP has maintained the pace of enforcement and taken a number of key actions to promote competition through enforcement and advocacy.
She informed the CCG that the CCP had issued very important orders, conducted enquiries, and issued various show-cause notices to non-compliant business entities. Some of the important enforcement actions of the Commission included orders issued against Pakistan Poultry Association and Pakistan Jute Mills Association for engaging in collusive activities, and in a high profile merger application case of Fauji Fertiliser Company. Various enquires were completed some of which included Pakistan Ships and Agents Association, DHA-Wateen Telecom, Port Qasim Authority, Pakistan Poultry Association and the Pakistan Jute Mills Association. Similarly, major show-cause notice cases included 18 poultry firms, Defence Housing Authority, Peshawar Electric Supply Company, and Ritz Incorporated.
The CCP Chairperson said that the Commission issued 36 merger approvals and granted 30 exemptions during the last six months. As part of its sectoral research program, the Commission completed five Competition Impact Assessment Studies which included study on automobile sector, cooking oil and ghee sector, private sector healthcare sector, private sector schooling sector and polyester staple fibre sector.
Rahat said that with the enactment of the competition law and appointment of the Commission Members, the CCP's legal status had become certain. She said that the Ministry of Finance had made some progress on the issue of three percent of fees and charges of regulatory bodies to CCP, and hoped that it would be resolved soon.
The participants of CCG meeting appreciated the actions taken by CCP and gave some important suggestions vis-à-vis its enforcement and advocacy strategies. An important suggestion was to form a Regulators' Forum to provide a platform for sharing of information and discussion on issues of mutual concern among the apex regulatory agencies of the country. The proposal was appreciated by all and it was decided to take all the other regulatory bodies on board.
It was a very interactive session and the participation of the heads of regulatory agencies was viewed as a gesture of extending support to the Competition Agency. It is important to mention that for the first time a large number of heads of regulatory bodies and government departments participated in the CGC meeting and showed interest in the competition laws.