CCP issues show-cause notice to Cinepax

ISLAMABAD - Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) on Friday issued a show cause notice to Cinepax Limited for tying the sale of cinema ticket with food coupons between September 2009 to April 2010. According to the show cause, the Cinepax has, prima facie, violated Section 3(1) read with Section 3(2) and 3(3)(c) of the Competition Ordinance 2010. The show cause notice gives Cinepax 14 days to submit a written reply and orders the former to appear before the Commission on 16 August 2010. Earlier, an inquiry report of the CCP had recommended that Section 30 proceedings against Cinepax Limited should be initiated. The commission has been empowered by the Competition Ordinance 2010 to ensure that no anti-competitive practices take place in Pakistans economy. Such practices include the tying of two unrelated products by a dominant undertaking. Tying takes away choice of the consumers and enables the dominant undertaking in one market to unjustly benefit from another market without fairly competing in the latter. In a different case The Network for Consumer Protection had approached CCP in respect of an advertisement sponsored by Tetra Pak with a concern that it might contravene the provisions relating to deceptive marketing practices. The advertisement stated, For generations we have boiled milk at home, thinking that boiling makes milk safe for drinking. However, a recent research by PCSIR has proven that boiling milk for an extended period not only reduces the nutrition of naturally present B-Vitamin by up to 36pc but also does not eliminate all the germs. OFT department of CCP, established in 2008, is mainly responsible for dealing with deceptive marketing practices covered by Section 10 of the Competition Ordinance, 2010. CCP through the OFT directed Tetra Pak and PCSIR to provide the studies on which the advertisement was based so that CCP could verify the assertions made in the advertisement. Upon review and analysis, the OFT found that although the studies sponsored by Tetra Pak and conducted by PCSIR concluded that boiling reduces the content of naturally present B-Vitamin in milk and does not eliminate all germs, it does not in any manner conclude that boiled milk is unsafe for drinking. However, Tetra Pak has agreed with the view taken by OFT that the advertisement may give the impression that milk boiled at home is not safe for drinking and such fact is not based on the findings of the studies conducted by PCSIR. As an effort to resolve the matter and to eliminate any potential risk of misleading information, Tetra Pak provided an undertaking to CCP that in case it runs the advertisement in the future it shall not use the statement For generations we have boiled milk at home, thinking that boiling makes milk safe for drinking. Tetra Pak has made this commitment to satisfy CCPs concern and for clarification purposes of public at large.

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