ISLAMABAD ( STAFF REPORT )
The Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) and the Intellectual Property Organisation of Pakistan (IPO) today signed a Memorandum of Understanding on sharing of information and capacity building of enforcement staffs to effectively deal with the competition law and intellectual property violations.
The MoU was signed by the CCP Chairperson Ms. Rahat Kaunain Hassan and IPO Chairman Mr. Mujeeb Ahmed Khan in a ceremony held at the CCP office in Islamabad, which was also attended by Ms. Bushra Naz Malik, Member CCP, and other senior officers from CCP and IPO.
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.
Addressing on the occasion, the CCP Chairperson Ms. Rahat Kaunain Hassan said: “IP law creates and confers exclusivity on proprietor whereas competition laws seek to promote competition by keeping markets open through fair play. In this regard, however, innovation and creativity contribute in promoting competition and allowing consumers a fair share of the resulting benefit.”
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.
The IPO Chairman Mr. 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 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.