The Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) has earned yet another international recognition as it has become the first regulatory authority from South Asia to be shortlisted by the Global Competition Review for the Enforcement Award in the category ‘Agency of the Year – Asia-Pacific, Middle East and Africa’ for 2012.
The London-based Global Competition Review (GCR) is the world’s leading anti-trust and competition law journal that is chiefly consulted by lawyers, competition authorities, economists and academics to keep abreast with the latest developments in competition law. CCP’s nomination for GCR award has brought a great accolade to the country, as other nominees in this category are: China’s Ministry of Commerce, Korea’s Fair Trade Commission, China’s National Development & Reform Commission and Australia’s Competition and Consumer Commission.
‘GCR Awards’ is held annually to recognize achievements of teams and individuals from private practice firms, academic organizations and competition authorities in the preceding year. This is only the second time these awards are taking place and it is commendable for the CCP to be considered for the award.
The “Agency of the Year’ award for Enforcement is based on numerous factors, such as the creative, strategic and innovative aspect of enforcement techniques used by the agencies. For the Commission, the assessment, thus, will pivot on its enforcement activities in 2011 during which it has issued 13 orders, 46 show cause notices, 6 enquiry reports besides 8 ongoing enquiries, and 7 search and inspections in important sectors such as, jute, edible oil, shipping, concession agreements, liquid chemical, entertainment, cable TV service, electric power, telecom, fertilizer, tea, and pharmaceutical. Moreover, the Commission also granted 82 exemptions and issued 76 merger NOCs during the year.
The gamut of activities undertaken by the Commission in 2011 is indicative of its commitment to expeditious enforcement albeit within the confines of a limited budget, thus making its nomination for the Enforcement Award all the more satisfying.
The nominations are decided by the international competition law community through a nomination and online poll over a period of three months. GCR will announce the winner on 27th March, 2012.
This is the second time CCP has been applauded and has been recognized for its work by the GCR. In 2011, the CCP was the only new entrant to be granted a rating of 2½ stars out of five in the GCR “Rating Enforcement’ for being an effective enforcer in the year 2010 despite being only three years old at that time. It has been able to shine once again, to become the only competition agency from South Asia to be shortlisted for the 2nd annual GCR Enforcement Award in 2012, which bears testimony to how the CCP definitively positioned itself to be a driven and effective enforcer in the region.
With such a nomination, it can be unequivocally stated that the CCP has developed into an effective world-class organization, as a result of the dedication and hard work of the Commission’s staff in its unceasing efforts to rigorously enforce the four pillars of the law i.e., the prohibition on the abuse of dominance, prohibited agreements, acquisitions & mergers, and deceptive marketing practice.
It is pertinent to mention here that CCP’s work also received the due acknowledgement from the Government of Pakistan during the recent international conference, “Competition Enforcement challenges and Consumer Welfare in Developing Countries” held in Islamabad on 1-2 December
2011 in which the Prime
Minister and Federal Finance Minister appreciated the work being done by CCP.