NA body unanimously passes Competition Bill

ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly Standing Committee on Finance and Revenue on Wednesday thoroughly deliberated and examined the Competition Bill, 2007 (Competition Ordinance, 2007) and unanimously passed the bill. The committee met here with Fauzia Wahab in the chair to re-consider and re-examine the Competition Ordinance, 2007. Chairman Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) briefed the committee and said that enactment of the Competition Bill, 2007 and establishment of a dedicated competition agency is a need of time

ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly Standing Committee on Finance and Revenue on Wednesday thoroughly deliberated and examined the Competition Bill, 2007 (Competition Ordinance, 2007) and unanimously passed the bill.

The committee met here with Fauzia Wahab in the chair to re-consider and re-examine the Competition Ordinance, 2007.

Chairman Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) briefed the committee and said that enactment of the Competition Bill, 2007 and establishment of a dedicated competition agency is a need of time.

The promulgation of the bill itself is a stepping stone towards achieving improvement in the competition law and policy of the country.

The bill primarily based on the Treaty of Rome has been tailored to take into account the socio economic realities.

However, by doing so, it is still on all counts in accordance with international best practices and conforms to the recommendations of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and other international regional bodies, he added.

He further said that it prohibits abuse of market dominance, anti-competitive agreements, deceptive market practices and mergers of undertakings that substantially reduce competition.

It avoids procedures that may pose unnecessary transaction or compliance costs on firms, obstacles to beneficial mergers and acquisitions and unnecessary restrictions on innovative horizontal and vertical arrangements among firms.

The meeting was attended by MNAs including Nafisa Shah, Khalida Mansoor,Riaz Fatyana, Aftab Shaban Mirani and Arif Aziz Shaikh besides other senior officials from Ministry of Finance and Competition Commission of Pakistan.