The Com-petition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) has established an 'Online Complaint Cell' at the Office of Fair Trade (OFT) for lodging complaints against companies involved in deceptive marketing practices. CCP Chairperson Rahat Kaunain Hassan, who also heads the OFT, has taken this initiative to facilitate the submission of complaints.
She has set up the OFT to facilitate individual consumers and undertakings under the strategy to check anti-competitive practices among companies. According to the CCP announcement on Saturday, a direct telephone line has been dedicated for all calls coming through to the Complaint Cell of the OFT to ensure easy access to advice seekers. The calls shall be received by Shazia Ashraf (Deputy Director). The number of this dedicated direct line is 051-9247557 and the e-mail address is oftcomplaints@cc.gov.pk.
The individual consumers as well as the companies can contact OFT on the aforementioned contact details and file complaints for violation of section 10 of the Ordinance ie deceptive marketing practices.
The Office of Fair Trade (OFT) was established at CCP in 2008 in order to deal exclusively with deceptive marketing practices, prohibited under Section 10 of the Competition Ordinance, 2010. The OFT since its creation has been operating under the Legal Department and enjoys all powers and functions required for enforcement of the provisions of Section 10 of the Ordinance. The OFT is empowered to take suo motu notice of any deceptive marketing practice or initiate enquiries upon receiving any complaints in respect of any deceptive marketing practices prescribed under the Ordinance.
According to the CCP, since its creation, the OFT as a department of CCP has conducted enquiries in respect of a number of matters relating to deceptive marketing practices which have resulted in the passing of orders by CCP. Orders passed by CCP in respect of deceptive marketing practices include orders against Proctor & Gamble, whereby P&G were ordered to modify an advertisement relating to their product 'Head & Shoulders Shampoo' which was found to be deceptive and tantamount to disseminating misleading information in terms of section 10 of the Ordinance as it lacked reasonable basis regarding the character, suitability of use and/or properties of the product in question.
The CCP in the case of Askari Bank, United Bank, MyBank and Habib Bank took suo motu notice of advertisements issued by the banks in the print media advertising deposits accounts along with the associated profit rates for such accounts. The CCP found such advertisements to be misleading to consumers, lacking a reasonable basis related to the character of goods/services apart from being capable of harming other businesses interests and directed the banks to ensure compliance with the provisions of Section 10 of the Ordinance. Another case of deceptive marketing practices was initiated in respect of advertisements by China Mobile Pak and Pakistan Telecom Mobile.
The CCP found that the advertisements violated the provisions of Section 10 but as the concerned undertakings had stopped running the advertisements and had complied with the directions of CCP, a lenient approach was taken and no penalty was imposed, the Commission said.
The OFT department of CCP aims at ensuring that consumers are protected from all sorts of deceptive marketing practices covered by section 10 of the Ordinance and encourages consumers and undertakings to lodge any complaints that they might have in this regard.