The
Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) held an online workshop on the guidance on competition comp
liance with the purpose to promote voluntary comp
liance of the
Competition Act, 2010 among business community.
According to a statement issued here on Saturday, the workshop was attended from Diamond Paints by Shoaib Ahmed, CEO, San
a Ahmed, Director Marketing, Huzaif
a Ahmed, Director Operations, Khuzaim
a Ahmed, Director Sales, Irfan Hassan, CFO, Irfan Yousaf, Manager Marketing, and Azam Niaz, Manager IT. CCP Member Advocacy Bushra Naz Malik chaired the session.
In her opening remarks, Bushra Naz Malik said that CCP’s ‘Guidance on
Competition Comp
liance,’ is an-easy-to-understand guide on the
Competition Act, 2010. She said the guidance provides an operative and meaningful voluntary competition comp
liance programme for assisting businesses and other stakeholders to promote a culture of comp
liance and minimize their risk of involvement in competition law infringements and the costs resulting from anti-competitive behaviour.
Director General,
Competition Policy, Ahmed Qadir while presenting the overview of the
Competition Act, 2010 said that the Act is a state of the art law which gives the
Competition Commission of Pakistan legal and investigative inst
ruments and powers to engender free competition in all spheres of commercial and economic activity, enhance economic efficiency, and to protect co
nsumers from anticompetitive behaviour.
Asfandyar Khattak, Director General (Advocacy and Media), while moderating the workshop said that the guidance on competition comp
liance explains the key concepts of competition and substantive provisions of the
Competition Act with illustrations and easy examples. This will help stakeholders to fully understand the prohibitions under the competition law.
While highlighting Deceptive Marketing Practices, Riaz Hussain, Assistant Director, CCP said that use of any false or misleading information in advertisement of any goods or services, which can harm competitors as well as co
nsumers, comes in category of deceptive marketing & infringement of Section 10 of
Competition Act, 2010. He said Businesses must refrain from distribution of false or misleading information and fraudulently using another’s trademark, firm name, or product labelling or packaging that is capable of harming business interests of competitors. Such practices are subject practices to civil liability and penalties under the
Competition law.
Aish Kamran Khan, Management Executive, CCP on two stages of implementation of
Competition Comp
liance Programme said that to keep the key provisions of the Act and implementing rules and regulations in mind, businesses need to develop and manage an effective competition comp
liance programme. She said that the first stage of the comp
liance programme focuses on setting up a comp
liance programme, highlighting three key areas including commitment to comp
liance, appointment of Comp
liance Officer and staff training. Whereas, the second stage focused on the implementation of the comp
liance programme and looks at four key areas including risk identification, risk assessment, risk mitigation and review and evaluation.