ISLAMABAD, June 28: The Competition Commission of Pakistan has stressed the need for creating an enabling and competitive business environment with the support of business community and rights groups for attracting investment.
CCP Chairperson Rahat Kaunain Hassan chairing the 13th quarterly meeting of the Competition Consultative Group (CCG) here on Wednesday said that the CCP was reaching out to stakeholders to create awareness regarding competition law.
The CCG is an informal think tank set up by the CCP to solicit feedback and suggestions on competition related issues, policies and enforcement from public and private sector representatives, legal community, academia, media and the government.
The meeting was informed about the enforcement actions taken by CCP, the two recent inquiries, including the inquiry in the matter of unreasonable increase in the price of urea fertiliser and another one against PTCL for prima facie abusing itsdominant position in the market for provision of DSL services through margin squeeze.
The CCP has also issued a policy note to the Government of Punjab for the ban it has imposed on establishment of new sugar mills and expansion of existing ones, in force since December 2006, and asked the provincial government to lift the ban to allow a fair competition in the sector.
Chairperson CCP said that the commission maintained the pace of enforcement despite several challenges, particularly given the financial constraints faced by the commission.
She lamented the deduction in the budget of the commission by 20 per cent, adding that financial independence was critical for the commission’s sustainability.
“The commission is tasked to monitor the economy of the whole country with a professional team comprising of only 46 officers in enforcement. We hope that the government will soon ensure recovery of 3 per cent fee outstanding from 5regulators as has repeatedly been assured by the government,” she said.
“CCP does not intend to cause any financial burden on the government and hence it is important to attain financial autonomy for its advocacy and enforcement functions,” she explained.
The meeting noted that most of the decisions made by CCP are challenged in the court of law.
“If there is backlog of cases before the courts – it does not mean that CCP should not continue with its enforcement. The impact will nonetheless be visible in the years to come,” she added The meeting was informed that commission’s work wasbeing recognised internationally as evidenced by the independent evaluation carried out by the Global Competition Review (GCR).
The meeting was attended by representatives of State Bank of Pakistan, National Electric Power Regulatory Authority,Engineering Development Board, Civil Aviation Authority, Consumer Association of Pakistan, Friedrich-Nauman-Stiftung, Institute of Chartered Accountants of Pakistan, Linde Pakistan Limited, Indus Motors Company Limited, Pakistan Business Council, Overseas Investors Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce andIndustry, Glaxo SmithKline, Pfizer Pakistan Limited, Lotte Pakistan Limited and ICI Pakistan.