ISLAMABAD: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.
Against the CCP’s order, the first appeal was filed by the PPA before the Competition Tribunal and its decision was authored by the Member Technical Ahmed Owais Pirzada.
The Tribunal held: “…By advertising prices of the poultry products in the national press the appellant has clearly prevented, restricted and reduced competition within the relevant market, which is a clear violation of section 4 of the Act.”
It was further observed that the findings recorded by the CCP were “based on proper appraisal of relevant provisions of Competition Law as well as other material brought on record. The same are, therefore, maintained.”
The PPA filed an appeal against the said Competition Tribunal order before the Supreme Court.
The CCP has time and again highlighted collusive/anti-competitive practices in the poultry sector.
First in 2010 where CCP issued show cause notices against 25 poultry association members and imposed a fine of Rs 50 million on PPA for contravention of Section 4 of the Competition Act.
In 2021, the show cause proceedings against the said poultry association members also resumed after the Islamabad High Court had set aside the stay order(s) granted after a period of over 10 years.
The CCP also concluded two enquiries in 2021 concerning possible collusive and anti-competitive practices in various market categories in the poultry sector including the market for broiler meat, eggs, day old broiler chicks and various poultry feed segments.
The first enquiry report revealed that inter alia the poultry feed mills collectively fixed the price of poultry feed and, in the other enquiry, it was concluded that inter alia the hatcheries/poultry companies collectively discussed and decided on prices of day-old broiler chicks, which are in prima facie violation of Section 4 of the Competition Act.