A government appointed committee headed by Justice (rtd) Saleem Akhtar is drafting a new law to replace the Trade Ordinance-1961 with a view to introducing a “responsible corporate culture” in trade bodies and to help them in becoming “service oriented”.

In its meeting scheduled for today, the committee is expected to fine tune its recommendations. Its report will be presented to the government latest by October 31, 2006 for approval. The road map is said to have drawn by the Justice Saleem Committee to provide effective and efficient monitoring of trade bodies.

“The objective is to bring professionalism in trade bodies and discourage those which are fake”, said Mr Nasim Qurashi, additional secretary to the ministry of commerce.

The existing ordinance which governs trade bodies has become obsolete for all practical purposes and, therefore, needs to be replaced.

In fact, the existing law has been “re-drafted” to provide for close monitoring and help eliminate the fake ones, Mr Qurashi who is also the spokesman of the ministry claimed.

At the same time, he said there was a need to help genuine trade bodies to grow as professional entities. Unscrupulous trade bodies and their sponsors would firstly be persuaded to stop their activities failing which the new law will take its own course.

Mr Qurashi agreed that such organisations should promote industrialization. They should also undertake research on economic trends and policy issues like in many other countries. The committee has looked into these issues and was likely to come up with some viable recommendations. The new law will empower the regulator to frame rules for enforcing the proposed new ordinance effectively. The regulator will be tasked to develop a comprehensive system to weed out fake bodies on the basis of new criteria after giving them an ample opportunity to present their case.

The ministry is believed to have proposed that the committee should make recommendations to upgrade the draft law and rules in accordance with the best modern practices. Accordingly, the committee has defined the purpose, role, responsibility and operational framework for all trade bodies and their membership criteria.

The new law is also expected to ensure governance by putting in place procedures that will include development of code of ethics, corporate and financial management by trade organisations.

The ministry wants the election process in these organisations to be transparent with a view to eliminate the fake and unscrupulous ones. “The committee is very much aware of the issue and has framed right recommendations to deal with it”, another official of the ministry said.

Once the new law is in place, all the required measures will be taken to implement seriously the reforms currently being considered by the ministry, he added. .

Till the enforcement of the new law, trade bodies will continue to function under the 1961 ordinance, though it does not serve a useful purpose. The mushroom growth of bodies should have been checked both by the ministry as well as the other genuine bodies and their representatives.

Former vice president of Federation of Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) Sohail Altaf welcomed the government’s decision to amend 1961 ordinance and said the committee would do a great service if it identifies fake trade bodies with a view to eliminating them from the scene.

“We need professional people and professional trade bodies and this can be done only by eliminating politics from these bodies”, he said.

He said there are a lot of associations and affiliates of leading chambers of commerce and industry which are not functioning properly and prudently, “but their votes do count and they do matter. If they are replaced by genuine people, it will be good for the business community.”

If the role of electoral college of these bodies is improved, it will certainly help both— the government and the genuine businessmen.

The way these trade bodies function, especially the FPCCI and the chambers in big cities, one does not see much help and support for small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Their membership is dominated by traders who do not represent the interests of the small industrialists.

Many people expect that the committee recommend measures to ensure effective participation of the SMEs in the trade bodies so that some real industrialisation could take place on the pattern of Japan, Korea and many other countries.