Supreme Court should hear appeals against decisions: CCP proposes MoF to close Competition Appellate Tribunal

The Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) has proposed to the Ministry of Finance (MoF) to close the Competition Appellate Tribunal, urging that the pending appeals against the decisions of the commission should be directly heard by the Supreme Court of Pakistan.
Mueen Batlay, CCP Member Competition Policy, Research, Cartels and Trade Abuses informed the Senate Standing Committee on Finance here on Wednesday that recently the CCP and Ministry of Finance had discussed viable proposals to improve the functioning of the commission. The committee was informed that under the new CCP laws - any entity having monopoly or dominant position in the market was not illegal but reducing competition through cartelisation was illegal.
From 2007 onwards, the CCP has imposed penalties/fines of Rs 26.3 billion, but the recovery was negligible as most of the cases have been challenged in courts, CCP Member said. CCP Chairman Dr Joseph Wilson said that most of the decisions made by CCP are under litigation and the penalised parties have obtained stay orders. In almost all cases, instead of penalty, the affected parties have challenged the existence of the commission.
During the CCP's presentation, it was pointed out that section 13 of the law empowers the Commission to establish regional offices and the commission is in the process of establishing a regional office in Karachi. Reacting to this, Committee Members strongly objected establishment of a new CCP office at Karachi. Senator Ilyas Bilour was of the view that there was no need to establish office in Karachi as commission can operate from Islamabad to deal with the cases in Karachi.
However, Senator Talha Mahmood said that on one hand they were suggesting that the CCP to improve its working and on the other opposing its plan to open office in the main business hub of the country, Karachi. The CCP Member said that foreign investment was linked with the competitive environment in the country. The foreign direct investment and inflows are more in countries where competition agencies are working successfully, he added.
CCP Chairman Dr Joseph Wilson said that the annual budget of the commission was Rs 200 million for the last three years, whereas the annual budget of other regulators like PEMRA, OGRA, PTA and NEPRA was higher than the CCP. The annual budget was Rs 572 million for PEMRA, Rs 294 million for OGRA, Rs 415 million for NEPRA and the PTA has annual budget of Rs 9 billion for 2014- 15.
He further said that the CCP was the most important institution that should be further strengthened so that it can protect consumers from anti-competitive activities. Legislation should be made to remove obstacles in the way of CCP for effective enforcement of Competition Law.
During the meeting, the committee pointed out that the CCP should take up the matter of flights with PIA and direct PIA to resume its flights from Peshawar to other cities such as Quetta, Islamabad. The CCP should direct companies to stop deceptive marketing of its products. Senator Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain pointed out that cartelisation has increased in the country since the inception of CCP - after the Monopoly Control Authority was abolished.
Meanwhile, Senator Sughra Imam inquired over rising cartelisation in the country. All the key sectors in the country such as cement, poultry, fertilizer, even sugar and milk have collusive behaviour - so what is the outcome of this law, she said adding, "I think we need to revisit the law again and if required some amendments should be made." The committee was informed that the CCP actions have enabled to highlight the cartelisation in various sectors, but there is no headway during the second phase. When asked whether Acting Chairman can make appointments, CCP Chairman responded that the commission can hire people on contract basis.