RAWALPINDI: The Competition Commission of Pakistan on Monday issued a show-cause notice to Proctor and Gamble Pakistan (Pvt) Ltd (P&G) for alleged deceptive marketing practices, which it said were “in violation of Section 10 of the Competition Act 2010.”

The CCP, acting on a complaint from Reckitt Benckiser (Pakistan) Ltd (RB), conducted an enquiry into the Safeguard campaign, which refers to the soap as “Pakistan's No. 1 rated anti-bacterial soap.”

A CCP Office of Fair Trade enquiry found that P&G had failed to provide “substantial justification for terming Safeguard Pakistan's No. 1 rated anti-bacterial soap,” a statement from CCP Director Advocacy and Media Asfandyar Khattak said.

“According to the enquiry, the false claim has thus resulted in distribution of false and/or misleading information to consumers related to the quality of their product Safeguard in violation of Section 10 of the Competition Act,” the statement said.

The CCP said the “false claim” may influence consumers to prefer Safeguard over competing anti-bacterial soaps “in contrast to the facts.”

In doing so, P&G may harm the business interests of competitors ─ including RB ─ which is a violation of Section 10 of the Competition Commission Act, due to which a show-cause notice has been issued to P&G, the CCP said.

The company has been summoned to a hearing “on a given date,” the CCP