The 9th meeting of the Competition Consultative Group – a body set up by the Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) to provide a platform for seeking advice and suggestions for better promotion of competition regime in Pakistan – was held here on Tuesday. The Chairman CCP, Khalid Mirza, presided over the meeting which was also attended by CCP members Mr. Abdul Ghaffar, Ms. Rahat Kaunain Hassan, Dr. Joseph Wilson, Ms. Vadiyya Khalil and Director General Research, Shahid Ahmed; CCG members who include industry representatives, sector regulators, academicians and officials of the Government of Pakistan. The Chairman CCP, Khalid Mirza, gave an overall summery of the measures taken by the Commission since the last CCG’s meeting to promote competition in the country. He also briefed the CCG members on the actions recently taken by CCP against undertakings who were allegedly breaching various provisions of the Competition Ordinance. Apart from the five orders issued by the Commission, these actions include search and inspection of the offices of Pakistan Poultry Association to investigate its alleged indulgence in cartelization, issuance of show cause notice to Ace Group of Industries for deceptive marketing practices by wrongful use of the trade marks of BMW & Harley Davidson, issuance of a Policy Note to the Government of Pakistan to amend bilateral air services agreement of 1972 with the Government of Saudi Arabia, and holding of hearings in various pending cases. The Chairman also apprised the CCG members of his recent high level interaction with the World Bank (WB) officials during which the Bank effectively recognized CCP as most successful project. The Chairman said that the CCP had achieved a lot during the last couple of years. He thanked CCG members for giving precious advice to the Commission on various issues from time to time. The CCG members were briefed on the four new sectoral studies recently published by CCP. As part of the CCP’s on-going programme of sectoral research – titled, competition impact assessment studies - four new sectoral studies on aviation, electric power, fertilisers and sugar have been completed. DG Research, CCP, Shahid Ahmed informed the CCG members that the primary purpose of CCP’s research programme is to enhance the understanding of competition issues in the economy. The studies focus attention on competition-related vulnerabilities that might exist in particular sectors of the economy, such as a potential for cartelization, abuse of dominance and use of deceptive marketing practices. The study on aviation describes the nature of aviation sector reform adopted by Pakistan which is based upon a limited open skies policy. The study underlines the risks involved in a fully market.
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