CCP thanks govt, AGP for help as LHC upholds Competition Act 2010

In a major constitutional development, a threemember bench of Lahore High Court has upheld the Competition Act 2010 as being "constitutionally valid" and has dismissed challenges assailing the legislative competence of the federation to enact a law on competition. In a statement issued on Tuesday, the Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) acknowledged the support extended by the federal government and the office of the Attorney General of Pakistan in resolving the decade-long issue of pending court cases. According to CCP, "All three judges of LHC found that the parliament has the legislative competence to enact a law on competition. In minority, Justice Ayesha Malik held that the parliament’s legislative competence -and therefore CCP's jurisdiction to regulate competition -- extends to all inter-provincial as well as intra-provincial matters. "Two judges in majority, however, held that while the parliament’s legislative competence extends to interprovincial trade and commerce, if CCP wants to take cognizance of a matter, it shall have to establish that the activity in question has an effect on trade and commerce beyond the boundaries of a province." Focusing on the parliament’s intention, the bench also upheld section 62 of the Act which validated and granted continuity to all actions, orders, proceedings etc. of the CCP since the date of the promulgation of Competition Ordinance 2007. This means that all actions, proceedings, orders of the commission issued under and since the 2007 Ordinance, and all subsequent ordinances as well as the Competition Act, 2010, stand validated. The petitioners had also assailed the exercise of certain regulatory powers of CCP as judicial powers.