Islamabad
The Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) based on fresh information made available visà-vis competition act prima facie collusion in the wheat flour sector, carried out a search and inspection of Pakistan Flour Mills Association’s (PFMA) premises.
The CCP in its recent order dated December 13, 2019, had imposed a penalty of
Rs75 million on PFMA for taking decisions with respect to fixing the price of flour and the quantities of production of wheat flour by its member mills, said a statement issued by CCP here on Tuesday.
The CCP, in its order, had issued directions to PFMA that the discussions, deliberations and decisions regarding current and future pricing, production and marketing are anti-competitive and should be avoided at all costs by the associations.
Despite the foregoing directions based on the information received by CCP, PFMA and its members are involved in prohibited conduct under the Competition Act (Act).
Through its various enforcement orders, CCP had issued guidelines with reference to conduct/role of associations in any sector.
The association may engage in activities that increase awareness of standards and technologies and may also make effort to develop consensus amongst its members regarding public policies.
However, the association should not, at any cost, indulge in any activity which may violate the act. The CCP’s inspection team has impounded important documents from PFMA premises as a result of the search and inspection carried out on Tuesday.—APP
