Background of the Case:

CCP received a formal complaint that various battery manufacturers were misleading consumers about their dry and acid-lead batteries by not disclosing material information such as, product capacity on the products’ body, packaging and warranty cards.

The CCP’s enquiry found that five battery manufacturers including Atlas Battery Ltd, Excide Pakistan Ltd, Pakistan Accumulators (Pvt) Ltd, Millat Industrial Products Ltd, and Century Engineering Industries (Pvt) Ltd and M/s Treet Corporation Limited were not printing product capacity of their batteries on the products’ body, packaging and warranty cards. Without such vital information, the consumers would be unable to compare and differentiate the quality, suitability for use and price of the products.

Order:

The Commission held that based on the review of facts and law in light of the findings of the enquiry report and the submissions of the Respondents, it is apparent that the consumer would not make an informed choice to purchase a battery suitable for his / her use as the Respondents are not providing, expressly or implicitly, any information pertaining to the capacity and utility of the batteries, and the omission of such information and marketing is likely to mislead consumers while purchasing these products.

The Commission further held that the Respondents’ omission / failure to disclose capacity, either explicitly or implicitly, of the batteries constitutes dissemination of misleading information to consumers which remains culpable under Section 10 of the Act.

The Commission stated that by omitting important information from their products and the marketing material, these companies not only deceived consumers but also harmed competition in the market. The companies admitted before the Commission that they concealed important information about their products from consumers and assured the Commission to print the battery capacity on the packaging, body, and warranty cards of batteries. Similarly, the undertakings also committed to amend their advertisements and all marketing material to mention the product capacity and other characteristics of their products.

Accepting their commitments to comply with Section 10 of the Competition Act, the Commission took a lenient view and imposed a minimum penalty of PKR 1 million each on these five Battery Manufacturers. No penalty was imposed on Treet Corporation (Daewoo Batteries).

CURRENT STATUS:

Three Battery manufacturers i.e. Volta, Atlas and Exide Battery deposited the fine. Exide Pakistan and Atlas Batteries also filed compliance reports vide letters dated 16-05-2018 and 28-07-2018 respectively; whereas Volta did not file the compliance report. The Order of CCP was suspended by the Competition Appellate Tribunal vide its Order dated 13-06-2018 in the appeals filed by M/s Century Engineering Industries (Phoenix) and M/s Millat Industrial Products. The Compliance report from Volta was not solicited because the matte is sub judice before CAT.