The Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) on Friday said it had time and again highlighted collusive/anti-competitive practices in the poultry sector and its findings in that regard had been upheld by the Supreme Court (SC).
The CCP, in a press release, said it was the first ever cartel case decided by the apex court, disallowing the civil appeal of Pakistan Poultry Association (PPA) against the judgement of the Competition Appellate Tribunal that upheld the CCP’s order of February 29 , 2016 with respect to price fixing in contravention of Section 4 of the Competition Act, 2010.
The SCP to some extent allowed the PPA’s appeal, by reducing the penalty from Rs 100 million imposed by CCP in its order to Rs 25 million, taking into account that the said advertisements by the PPA were discontinued after a few days, i.e., “after two days for eggs and five days for poultry”, it added.
The apex court directed the PPA to pay the Rs 25 million penalty within of 15 days from the date of the order.
The Supreme Court also directed the CCP to “frame and notify relevant rules inter alia relating to imposition of penalties”.
“Currently, there exists guidelines on imposition of financial penalties.
Under Section 57 of the Act, the Commission, with the approval of the Federal Government, has the power to make rules,” the CCP said.
The SC proceedings pertained to the CCP’s order wherein the Commission found that the PPA had inter alia discussed and approved the advertisement of prices of certain poultry products (concerning broiler chicken and chicken eggs) in the national press, which was prohibited under the Competition Act..—APP
