The role of the Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) in eliminating regulatory barriers to economic growth, apart from busting cartels, is a very vital and significant one, which it is performing very effectively, said Dr Joseph Wilson, CCP Chairman, while speaking at the National Continuing Legal Education Conference here at a hotel.
Dr Wilson said that Section 29 of the Competition Act, 2010 empowered CCP to review policy frameworks that affect competition and give non-binding recommendations to the government. "CCP has been actively working on this front and the government is receptive to the Commission's advice," he said. Dr Wilson cited a number of cases like the Policy Note on the discriminatory levy of Gas Infrastructure Development Cess (GIDC) on selective fertilizer plants wherein CCP recommended that this cess be charged equally to all fertilizer plants to create a level-playing field in the urea market. Another Policy Note recently issued recommended eliminating exemptions granted to NCL, FWO and NLC in the construction sector.
Dr Wilson also cited the PIA Hajj fares case where CCP took notice of media reports that PIA was charging exorbitant Hajj fares. CCP issued a Policy Note to the government recommending it to modify the Bilateral Air Services Agreement (BASA) between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. The recommendations were accepted and private airlines were allowed to operate flights on the route resulting in estimated savings of Rs 6 billion for consumers.-PR
Comments
Comments are closed.