The Competition Appellate Tribunal has upheld a decision against Al Tahur Private Limited, the producer of Prema Milk, for engaging in deceptive advertising practices; however, it reduced the company’s original penalty from PKR 35 million to PKR 5 million. The tribunal agreed with the Competition Commission of Pakistan’s (CCP) finding that Prema Milk’s promotional campaign unfairly depicted competing dairy products as harmful and unsafe, but adjusted the penalty based on unclear financial gains from this misconduct.
The original complaint was filed by the Pakistan Dairy Association, which accused Al Tahur Private Limited of using misleading advertisements, particularly in social media campaigns, suggesting other milk brands available in the market were hazardous for human consumption. These claims, found to be unsubstantiated by the CCP investigation, unfairly positioned Prema Milk as the sole healthy milk option.
After rigorous examination, the CCP concluded that Prema’s advertising breached Section 10(1) of the Competition Act, which strictly prohibits deceptive marketing practices that could harm competitors’ economic interests and mislead consumers. Due to the seriousness of the violation, the CCP had initially imposed a substantial fine of PKR 35 million on Al Tahur Private Limited.
Al Tahur challenged this ruling and appealed to the Competition Appellate Tribunal, which subsequently conducted a comprehensive review of the case. While upholding the CCP’s findings about misleading advertisements, the tribunal decided to significantly lower the penalty amount. The tribunal cited insufficient evidence regarding the direct financial advantage gained by Prema Milk from its misleading advertising campaigns as justification for this reduction.
Consequently, the tribunal’s final directive reduced the company’s penalty to PKR 5 million, maintaining a clear stance against deceptive advertising practices but emphasizing the accountability proportionality principle in penalty assessments.
