Food price control: CCP asks DCOs to provide details of companies and persons

The Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) has directed all District Coordination Officers (DCOs) to provide complete details of associations, companies and persons who consult the DCOs for price control and supply of food items such as chicken, vegetables, fruits, meat, milk, flour and sugar on Friday.
Sources told Business Recorder that the CCP has issued instructions to all the DCOs across the Country regarding provision of information under Competition Act, 2010. It is a comprehensive exercise being carried out by the CCP on national level despite limited workforce available with the commission. The collection of data at district level and its compilation on national level is a cumbersome exercise. The commission has taken the exercise as a challenge to compile data base on the commodities with evidence on possible anti-competitive behaviour behind rising prices of essential food commodities in the informal sector. Once data has been collected from provinces and district administrations, the CCP would be in a position to take strict action as per the Competition Act, 2010.
According to the CCP instructions to the DCOs, the CCP is mandated by the Competition Act, 2010 (Act) to enforce the prohibition against anti-competitive practices in all spheres of commercial and economic activity. The Commission has taken cognisance of concerns that some undertakings in the informal food markets arc manipulating supply, prices of products against the law and public interest. The Commission is therefore, conducting a fact-finding exercise to gather crucial information that will help in determining whether any provision of the Act is being violated.
Therefore, the CCP has initiated a country-wide inquiry into the possible anti-competitive behaviour behind rising prices of essential food commodities in the informal sector.
In this regard, DCOs are requested to provide complete details and collect information of all stakeholders (associations, companies, and persons) with whom DCOs offices consults for price control and supply of the following food items such as chicken, vegetables, fruits, meat, milk, flour and sugar in their district. In addition, the CCP has further asked the DCOs to provide the minutes of meeting and list of participants of any price control or supply meetings held by the District administration in the past two years.
The information may be provided on or before March 5, 2015 in the strictest confidence to the Commission, the CCP added. Through this investigation, CCP will determine whether the price hike in the food commodities market is a result of anti-competitive practice such as cartelization, abuse of dominance. Once the process has completed, the CCP may impose substantial penalties on the undertakings involved in accordance with provisions of the Competition Act to protect consumers.