ISLAMABAD, Nov 18: The Competition Appellate Tribunal, Islamabad has remanded the Al-Ghazi Tractors Limited case back to the Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) for fresh proceedings from the stage of the show cause notice.
During the hearing, the appellant relied on a report of the Agricultural Mechanization Research Institute (AMRI), Punjab, which had been cited in its defence. The Tribunal directed that before proceeding further, CCP shall issue a notice to AMRI and confront the institute with the report placed on record, along with the conclusions drawn by the appellant regarding its contents.
The Tribunal also allowed CCP, if it considers appropriate, to seek input from other tractor manufacturers whose products were compared in the AMRI document.
The Tribunal instructed that the proceedings be completed within 90 days. It further ordered that the security amount of Rs 10 million earlier deposited by Al-Ghazi be discharged in favour of the appellant.
The case concerns CCP’s earlier order imposing a Rs 40 million penalty on Al-Ghazi Tractors for advertising a misleading claim of “up to 30% extra diesel savings.” CCP had found that the claim, wrongly attributed to an AMRI report, could mislead farmers, and that AMRI had neither certified nor endorsed such a comparison. It had tested only limited models and had even cautioned the company against misusing its name.
CCP will now resume the proceedings as directed by the Tribunal, reaffirming its resolve to protect consumers from deceptive marketing in the agricultural machinery sector.
