The Chairman, Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP), Khalid Mirza, has said that CCP has laid the foundation of sound competition regime in Pakistan and now it is imperative that all stakeholders ensure the implementation of competition policy in letter and spirit. He was addressing a workshop, “Competition Law as a tool for economic efficiency” jointly organized by CCP and the Rausing Executive Development Centre (REDC), the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS), in Karachi. The workshop was well attended by senior executives of corporate sector, lawyers, officials of regulatory organizations and officials of CCP and LUMS. He said that the aim of any modern competition regime is to ensure free competition in economic activity to enhance economic efficiency and to protect the consumer. For this purpose, he emphasized that the competition agency should be so structured, empowered and resourced as to be able to apply the law without fear or favour and without succumbing to any external pressure. The Chairman gave an overview of the actions taken by the Commission and said that it was noteworthy that the Commission had successfully implemented the competition law in its entirety over the past two and a half years. He said that the Commission has moved decisively against cartelization in various sectors, collusive tendering, abuse of dominance and deceptive marketing practices and issued various orders after conducting hearings. He said that the Commission has also examined some 150 pre-merger applications and about 200 potentially competition reducing agreements had been exempted on grounds of economic merit. The Commission had also undertaken focused advocacy efforts as a means of creating a culture of competition in the country. He said that the Commission had issued six policy notes to the Government on public policy and regulation which were against accepted competition norms. In four instances the Commission’s viewpoint was fully or partially accepted. Structurally, the Commission has set up an Acquisition and Mergers Facilitation Office (AMFO) to provide advice on the merger clearance regime and an Office of Fair Trading to address deceptive marketing practices. While talking on the topic of the workshop, “Competition law as a tool for economic efficiency”, he said that a sustained effort is necessary to propagate the virtues of competition, why it is in everyone’s interest to uphold competition values and proceed on the basis of rational commercial conduct. Mr. Mirza highlighted numerous challenges that competition law faced in the context of a developing country, corruption being the most notable. He said that anti-competitive behaviour is firmly entrenched in the country’s business paradigm and any move towards a more competitive environment was viewed as destructive. With specific reference to Pakistan, he lamented that the government had not ensured tied sources of funding for the Commission. A nominal three percent of the fees and charges from five regulators had been earmarked for the Commission, but this decision is yet to be implemented as the government has not displayed any political will in this regard. Despite these and numerous other challenges, he said that he had implemented the law with such diligence that the performance of the Commission under his leadership had been internationally recognised by the OECD, UNCTAD, the International Competition Network and the World Bank. The staff of the OECD Competition Committee has recently described him as persona institutae. Member CCP, Dr. Joseph Wilson, in his presentation explained acquisitions and mergers under the Competition Ordinance as well as abuse of dominant position. He traced the development of merger review jurisprudence in the United States and how the law was still evolving to address challenges of a globalizing economy. His presentation on Abuse of Dominant Position explained the terminology used in the Competition Ordinance and gave the example of numerous cases that the Commission had investigated. Member CCP, Ms. Kaunain Hassan, gave presentations on prohibited agreements and exemptions, and deceptive marketing. Her lucid presentations defined cartels, and how they were harmful. She also explained to the participants the various indicators that could be evident of cartels. In her presentation on deceptive marketing, she talked about why the Office of Fair Trading was established in the Commission and numerous actions it had taken. Dr Zafar Iqbal Qureshi, Professor, Suleman Dawood School of Business (LUMS) in his remarks at the workshop highlighted the importance of competition policy for the economy. He appreciated the impact that the Commission had achieved under the able guidance of Khalid Mirza and appreciated the collaboration between the Commission and the Rausing Executive Development Centre. Mr. Abdul Razak Dawood, Rector, Lahore University of Management Sciences talked about why he felt competition was necessary to promote economic efficiency and acknowledged the considerable efforts of Chairman Mirza in devoting night and day in implementing the law in extremely difficult and challenging circumstances. He said that it was an honor for both LUMS and for him personally that Chairman Mirza will be joining their faculty after his retirement.
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