The Competition Commission of Pakistan, (CCP) conducted search and inspection of the head office of the Pakistan Jute Mills Association (PJMA) in Lahore on July 8, 2010, pursuant to Section 34 of the Competition Ordinance. The search and inspection was necessitated as the CCP observed that PJMA members had exhibited, prima facie, collusive behaviour in the supply of jute/ gunny bags in various procurement by public sector organizations as similar prices had been quoted by them, despite the fact that production costs of the members were different and their manufacturing facilities were located in different parts of the country. A team comprising of five officers of the Commission took part in the search and inspection. The CCP appreciated that the PJMA had co-operated with the officers of the Commission during their search and inspection. The Commission’s enquiry into this matter is currently on-going. Section 4 of the Competition Ordinance, 2010 mandates the CCP to look into possibilities of bid rigging, a particular form of collusive price-fixing behaviour, by which firms co-ordinate their bids on public procurement or project contracts and artificially increase profits made from such procurement by setting prices at uncompetitive levels. Procurement by the public sector organisations is the single largest activity in the economy that is affected by anti-competitive bidding which, in turn, results in considerable losses to public sector organisations.
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