LAHORE - The Competition Commission of Pakistan has announced that it will not give any approval to establish the ICH Exchange as it is against the terms of Competition Act 2010.
In a note issued to The Nation, the CCP said that it has been raising concerns regarding the establishment of the proposed ICH Exchange through a policy note to the Ministry of Information Technology and Pakistan Telecommunication Authority on 28 August 2012.
The Commission observed that while it may be within the domain of MoIT to issue policy directives in relation to the subject industry, it needs to be appreciated that any such policy decision is in fact subject to the substantive provisions of the statute in force i.e. the Competition Act, 2010.
CCP noted in its Policy Note that the proposed ICH Arrangement directly violates Section 4 of the Act, and particularly, clause (a) & (b) of subsection 2 of Section 4 which prohibits price fixing and division of market via quotas. Under the Directive and Proposed ICH Arrangement price fixation and sharing of market (quota allocation) are promoted. Such practices i.e. price fixation and quota allocation are considered per se illegal, being the most pernicious anticompetitive conducts.