ISLAMABAD: The Competition Commission of Pakistan’s (CCP) Competition Consultative Group (CCG) has held it 21st meeting to review performance of the commission at the CCP head office.
It was told in the meeting that the CCP initiated 10 inquiries against cartels and trade abuses and five relating to deceptive marketing practices during January and March. The CCP issued 24 exemptions to agreements that affect competition, and held 14 hearings, including a public hearing.
The meeting was informed that a number of enforcement initiatives have been taken to address competition concerns in various important sectors of the economy.
The inquiries included looking into the reasons for unreasonable price-hike of essential commodities; why global decrease in petroleum prices was not reflected in the price of transportation of people and goods; possible cartelisation in LPG, cement, and poultry feed sectors.
The CCP cleared 16 pre-merger applications in the quarter. Out of these, two pertaining to GlaxoSmithKline and Novartis were taken to a second phase review to analyse competition concerns before being cleared with certain structural remedies. The participants were given a detailed presentation on the GSK-Novartis vaccine merger.
