The Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP), on the occasion of 'World Competition Day' on Monday launched 'The Guidance on Competition Compliance,' an-easy-to-understand guide on the Competition Act, 2010, to promote voluntary compliance of the law.
The guidance issued by the CCP on Monday provides an operative and meaningful voluntary competition compliance programme for assisting businesses and other stakeholders to promote a culture of compliance and minimise their risk of involvement in competition law infringements and the costs resulting from anti-competitive behaviour. Part-A of The Guidance explains key concepts of competition and substantive provisions of the Competition Act with illustrations and easy examples. This will help stakeholders to fully understand the prohibitions under the competition law.
Part-B of the Guidance deals with setting up and managing a competition compliance programme explaining various stages of its execution and evaluation. The last section comprises of annexures relating to a checklist of do's and don'ts of the Competition Law, a summary of the sections of Competition Act relevant to stakeholders, and the procedure to file a complaint with the CCP.
In the first phase of implementation of the 'Guidance on Competition Compliance', the CCP will provide training to the focal persons nominated by the chambers of commerce and industries who will assist businesses in implementing the compliance programmes while serving as the central points of communication between the CCP and the businesses. In the second phase, training will be provided to the representatives of the government organisations, regulatory bodies, state-owned enterprises and other stakeholders.
According to the 'Guidance on Competition Compliance,' the section 34 of the Competition Act grants the commission the power to enter and search premises to gather information or evidence about anti-competitive activities. In the case of refusal or resistance during search and inspection, empowers the Commission to do a forcible entry to collect necessary evidence.
The guidance said that a search and inspection is possibly the first moment that a business realises that it is being investigated for a possible violation in the form of a prohibited agreement. The officials of businesses are under an obligation to assist the officers of the Commission conducting the inspection. In case of non-compliance, the Commission is empowered to make a forcible entry of the premises. Co-operation with the search-and-inspection team can mitigate many of the possible repercussions on the business' reputation.
The CCP has informed business community that the businesses should ensure that their employees to act calmly and facilitate the inspection after ensuring its validity, which will be given in writing by the Commission. The businesses should allow the team to access any documents and electronic devices on which official material is available.
The guidance said that the businesses should refrain from deleting, destroying, or removing any information (whether in electronic or physical form) from the premises.
Businesses should stop sending any emails after the inspection commences or speak with anyone not expressly authorised by the business' senior management. A temporary ban on electronic communication during the period of the inspection should be expected.
The guidance has also advised the businesses do not impede the inspection on account of obtaining legal advice from businesses' counsels, the CCP maintained. The inspection team has the right to make copies of documents or even take the original as and if necessary. Impounded documents will be returned after due examination. A list of documents and items being retained by the inspection team will be provided to the representatives of the business. The team can also impound or make forensic image of hard disks (computers, storage devices, etc) and save a copy of data on any device (iPads, mobiles, tablets, etc), the CCP guidance added.
In case an individual has adequate information about a cartel or anti-competitive practice, he or she may report such activities to the Commission. The Commission rewards informants an amount ranging from a minimum of Rs 200,000 to Rs 2,000,000. The reward shall be paid if the information provided by the informant is accurate, verifiable, and useful in the Commission's anti-cartel enforcement. The Commission keeps the identity of the informant confidential, the CCP disclosed.