Chairperson Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) Rahat Kaunain Hassan has said that innovation and creativity contribute in promoting competition, allowing consumers a fair share of the resulting benefit.
Rahat Kaunain Hassan said this on Monday after the CCP and the Intellectual Property Organisation of Pakistan (IPO) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on sharing of information and capacity building of enforcement staff to effectively deal with the competition law and intellectual property violations. The MoU was signed by the CCP chairperson and IPO Chairman Mujeeb Ahmed Khan in a ceremony held at the CCP office, which was also attended by Member CCP Bushra Naz Malik and other senior officers from CCP and IPO.
Addressing on the occasion, the CCP chairperson said, “IP law creates and confers exclusivity on proprietors whereas competition laws seek to promote competition by keeping markets open through fair play.”
She welcomed the signing of the MoU, saying that it will help build the capacity of both organisations in the enforcement of the respective laws. She thanked the IPO chairman for extending cooperation in accessing information and data, which would be helpful in the enforcement of Section 10 of the Competition Act, 2010.
IPO Chairman Mujeeb Ahmed Khan said that the MoU reaffirms the long-standing association between the two agencies and leverage each agency’s comparative advantage to promote fair business practices in the economy. The major thrust of the MoU is to promote mutually beneficial cooperation between the CCP and IPO in the areas of advocacy, research, capacity development, awareness-raising, and outreach. The MoU will also allow the two regulators to not only exchange information on pertinent issues but also do consultations on matters relating to their statutory mandates.
The MoU further covers training of staff of both regulators with regard to their respective mandates, and to develop and bolster partnerships with other organizations that may assist in capacity building of both parties to the MoU.
The CCP is a statutory body mandated to protect and promote competition in Pakistan’s economy by, inter alia, curbing anti-competitive practices including deceptive marketing practices, while the IPO is a statutory body tasked with the responsibility of integrated and efficient intellectual property management through copyright, trademarks, patents and other general types of intellectual property regulation.
