CCP Opposes Proposed Amendments

Staff Report KARACHI: Chairman, Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP), Khalid Mirza Thursday has cautioned that certain amendments being proposed in Competition Law would distort the very spirit of this law.Mirza termed these amendments as being bogus and warned that if these changes are incorporated in the law they would be tantamount in disrupting the main purpose of the law, which was introduced to act against cartelization, abuse of dominant position and deceptive marketing practices. Talking to journalists at a workshop on “Competition Law and the Role of CCP in Promoting Competition”, Mirza expressed reluctance to pinpoint those who are adamant on introducing these amendments and left the job on journalists to identify those who are carrying on this task.He also expressed his dismay over non-implementation of the decision by the regulatory bodies to give 3 percent of total collected amount of fee they charge from their clients in each quarter of the year.“The decision has not been implemented so far, thus blocking the way for CCP to gain financial autonomy”, he said.About the inquiry into the sugar issue, Mirza said that next hearing would take place on January 25, 2010, however it is hard to predict when the final decision would be taken because notices have been issued to 25 to 30 sugar mills and only after hearing their point of view would CCP announce its decision.He, however, stated that there were prima facie indications of collusive behaviour of sugar mills in the preliminary report.About the ongoing dispute on cotton yarn, CCP chief said any issue concerning competition would be dealt by them however, so far no has approached the CCP.He said that the implementation of the Competition Ordinance in letter and spirit is essential for the country’s economic growth and prosperity of the people.“Given our cutting-edge law and its promise of both near and long-term benefits to business consumers and retail consumers, it is important that our law continues to be enforced otherwise everything that we have accomplished this far will be truly futile and our country’s economic productivity will continue to stagnate as it has for the past many years,” said Khalid Mirza.He said that CCP’s successes outshine all other competition agencies in the developing countries. “We have taken up several cases of cartels, abuse of dominant position and deceptive marketing practices in important sectors of the economy, i.e. sugar, cement, banks, cement companies, the largest refinery, the three stock exchanges, cellular companies, a leading business school, a Government sponsored trust, several leading newspapers, a professional association, PIA and two fertilizer companies held by an Army Trust.”He informed that the actions taken by CCP during its short period of existence are unmatched in any other jurisdiction. “No other competition agency in any country has taken such important steps as we have done in the past two years.”