The Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) has imposed fines of Rs. 1 billion and Rs. 100 million on Haier and Dawlance, respectively.
These Electronic brands actually entered into resale price maintenance (RPM) agreement with their suppliers and dealers as price-fixing is a violation of competition laws of the country.
The penalties were implemented after a hearing by a CCP bench headed by Chairperson Rahat Koneen Hassan and Member Mujtaba Ahmed Lodhi.
The CCP’s decision indicates that Haier needs to be heavily fined for considering the company’s violations and for promoting a compliant approach. It fined Haier Rs 1 billion, which is no more than 3% of its annual turnover in 2020-21.
The CCP had started investigation into the alleged violation of Section 4 of the Competition Act by “electronic device manufacturers, distributors / dealers and their respective trade associations”.
For DEL / Dawlance, CCP has limited the amount of penalty to Rs 100 million, which does not exceed 1% of its turnover in 2020-21.
Evidence suggests that both Haier and DEL / Dawlance prevented their dealers from selling products below a certain price, restricted them not to offer any discounts or package deals and imposed limitations, in which their respective pricing policies were monitored and controlled.
