The Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) has intensified advocacy efforts and held around 70 seminars over the last two years to reach out to a wider range of stakeholders for consultation on competition issues and strengthening awareness of the competition law. Sources told Business Recorder that under its advocacy mandate under section 29 of the Competition Act, 2010, CCP has since January 2015 convened around 40 advocacy seminars in the chambers of commerce and trade associations, 6 seminars in and national and multinational companies and around 24 seminars in the leading universities of the four provinces.
Previously, CCP organized fewer advocacy sessions and consultation with industry and businesses was restricted only to members of the Competition Consultative Group (CCG), an informal forum that CCP used to convene quarterly to discuss competition issues. Although CCG was a good forum for consultation on competition related matters with industry experts, officials of regulatory bodies, academia and media, however, the number of participants in its meetings was very limited. CCP has so far held 21 meetings of CCG in which the Chairperson and officials of CCP have briefed the participants on the enforcement actions, initiatives in research and advocacy and government policies affecting the state of competition, sources said.
During last meeting, briefing was given by CCP officials on inquiries including looking into the reasons for the unreasonable price hike of essential commodities; why the global decrease in petroleum prices have not reflected in the price of transportation of people and goods; the possible cartelisation in the LPG, cement, and poultry feed sectors. The data obtained from the CCP''s website suggest that since January 2015 after current Chairperson Vadiyya Khalil took charge of office, she emphasised the need to ratchet up advocacy along with enforcement actions in order to increase awareness of the law and to reach out to a wider range of stakeholders.
In line with her vision, the CCP kicked off a National Road Show on Competition Law in October 2015 and the CCP teams visited 22 cities and held around 40 seminars in the chambers of commerce and trade associations. This advocacy initiative was widely appreciated by the industry people and it resulted in an increased awareness and understanding of the Competition Law and competition issues in various industries.
Similarly, in December 2016, CCP launched the Competition Advocacy Academia Drive and held around 24 seminars in the leading universities of the four provinces where the students and faculty members of the faculties of management sciences, economics and law were briefed about the Competition Law.
Another important recent advocacy initiative of CCP is the launching of the Guidance on Competition Compliance, which is aimed at improving business compliance with the Competition Law. CCP has already started holding training sessions for the employees of national and multinational companies and the first seminar was held at the Overseas Investors Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Karachi. Business and industry experts have widely appreciated the CCP''s advocacy initiatives saying that familiarisation of the Competition rules and regulations will promote a healthy competition in the country.