Summary

Brief:

The Commission, upon receipt of complaints alleging deceptive marketing by Al Haaj Mian Liaquat Ali of Liaquat Hospital Lahore and Dr. Shazia Liaquat (the ‘Respondents’) through its television commercial (‘TVC’) in violation of Section 10 of the Competition Act, 2010 (the ‘Act’), initiated an enquiry into the matter in terms of Section 37(2) of the Act. The Complainant alleged that certain TV channels were running advertisements for the Respondent claiming to cure various types of diseases.

Respondent committed to altering the advertisements and forwarding to the Commission for its consideration and approval. Despite this undertaking, however, no revised TVC was submitted to the Commission. Moreover, the Commission became aware that the Respondents had started airing the TVC on other channels in different languages. The Commission noted that the continued airing of the TVC was likely to cause serious damage, and therefore, in the public interest, it was necessary to issue an interim order under Section 31 of the Act till the conclusion of the proceedings. The Respondent’s counsel, stated that he had no objection in this regard.

The Respondent was therefore directed to: a) To immediately stop airing the TVC in any language and on all channels till the conclusion of proceedings; b) file written commitment with the Registrar of the Commission ; and c) file a compliance report within fifteen days from the date of order. Following the Interim Order, the Respondent complied with all of the aforementioned conditions.

The Commission found that the Respondents had no reasonable basis for making the impugned claims and were thus in violation of Section 10 of the Act. The Respondents were reprimanded from further indulging in deceptive marketing practices.

Finally, the Commission also recommended to the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council, the National Council for Homeopathy and the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority to devise guidelines regarding the marketing practices of medicinal and health care providers. The Commission recommended that the said guidelines be finalized within a period of three months from the date of the Order. The Registrar was directed to send copies of the Order to the parties mentioned above.

CURRENT STATUS:

Order complied.