Competition law crucial: CCP chairman

ISLAMABAD (APP) - The competition agencies have a important role to play in infrastructure development as the competition law extends to all economic activities.
This was stated by Competition Commission of Pakistan Chairman Khalid Mirza speaking at the South Asia Conclave on Enabling Regulation for Investment in Infrastructure in New Delhi.
According to a statement issued by the commission here on Wednesday, Khalid Mirza said that he believed govt organizations engaged in setting up infrastructure projects, including those in the area of public-private partnerships, would do well to involve the competition authority in designing the procurement process, for a project. He said that furthermore, if they suspect collusive conduct or any other competition-related abuse they would do well to make a reference to the competition authority for investigation.
Khalid Mirza maintained that although sector-specific regulations are often fairly comprehensive in addressing systemic issues and also perhaps, price regulation, but do not ever, in any satisfactory manner, deal with the kernel of behavioral matters covered by competition law and policy.
I suppose this is how it should be since identification, investigation and determining the retribution for anti-competitive behavior is a specialized subject just as crime detection and punishment is also a specialized area which should be and is the preserve of the police, he added.
The CCP Chairman said that a competition authority indeed provides a service to all sector-specific regulators, not only those covering the area of financial infrastructure like banking, securities and insurance but also those covering the real sector like oil and gas, electricity, telecommunications, civil aviation, transportation. Competition law and policy certainly has a significant role to play in infrastructure, its development and economic deployment.
The CCP Chairman added that competition authorities, particularly those that have been pro-active and have developed the necessary expertise to detect, investigate, and take appropriate action against competition infringements.
, must keep a check on anti- competitive collusive behavior and abuses to prevent and deter the harm caused by such behavior.
Khalid Mirza said that it is important to recognize that competition law and policy is holistic and has cross-cutting application across all sectors of the economy, whether regulated or not, formal or informal, Government or private.