Dawlance and Haier’s competition commission conundrum

You probably don’t give a lot of thought to your refrigerator. In fact, as important a home appliance as it is, you probably really only think about it either when it needs repairing or when you need to buy a new one. 

Of course, to the people in the refrigerator business, these cold cabinets are their bread and butter - which means they’re worth fighting for. That is why, earlier this month, the Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) fined home appliance giants Dawlance and Haeir with fines of Rs 100 million and Rs 1 billion respectively for fixing resale prices of certain products.

In 2017, during a market survey of electronic appliance dealers by the commission, circulars issued by Dawlance (also referred to as DEL) and Haeir mandating price controls were procured. This led to an investigation of the companies’ alleged price-fixing practices. On 14th March, 2022 the CCP passed an order against the companies, announcing aforementioned penalties for entering into resale price maintenance (RPM) arrangements which are considered ‘anti-competitive practice’. 

So, how did two notable and renowned home appliance brands conduct anti-competitive activities and why did they even have to?It appears that they were doing nothing out of the ordinary – well at least partially.