The Trade Amendment Act 2022, approved by the Parliament, opens the window for previous office bearers to continue working for another year.
On October 11, 2022, the Parliament in its joint session, approved the amendment in rules by extending the tenure of trade bodies, associations, chambers and executive committee members of Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI), including the vice president (VP), senior vice president (SVP) and president. The bill is due to be signed by the president and will be implemented from January 2022 retrospectively.
By amending the trade rules, their tenure has been increased from one to two years. The FPCCI was trying to amend the trade bodies’ rules for a long time. In 2020, the executive committee and the managing committee of the FPCCI passed the proposed resolution and the request was moved towards the relevant government authorities.
Speaking to the Express Tribune, Ahmad Jawad, Vice President of the Pakistan Businesses Forum (PBF) said, “After the Trade Amendment Act 2022 was passed in the joint session of parliament, it is evident that the previous office bearers and executive body for the year 2021/22 of all chambers of commerce, trade associations, women chambers and small chambers of commerce shall prevail for another one year, as per the new amendment act which was effective from January 1, 2022.”
“The extension of FPCCI, which is the apex trade body of the country and its executive committee and general body, were relying on the inheritance of the voting rite from the previous voters of the respective trade bodies,” he noted.
“Hence, if the incumbent office of the FPCCI president and its office bearers continue as per the new act for two years, then the respective voters on whom the incumbent president was relying will also have an extended rite for two years,” explained Jawad.
“Once the president of Pakistan signs the bill, the recent elections of the trade bodies which were held last month for the period of 2022/23 shall be treated as null and void,” Jawad added.
Initially, the said amendment was approved by the Senate in 2021 after approval of the Standing Committees on Commerce, Finance, and the Standing Committees of the Senate. However, the National Assembly was unable to pursue it in 90 days’ time as per the rules due to political turmoil that later resulted in a change of government, as per the FPCCI. Then, it was decided that the amendment would be tabled before the joint session and was finally approved in Parliament on Tuesday, October 11, 2022.
The history of this issue goes back to 2010 before which the FPCCI was practising a two-year tenure. However, from 2010 onwards, this tenure period was reduced to one year only, said FPCCI.
This change created a lot of problems not only within the country but also on an international level. In a country like Turkey, the period lasts four years while in neighbouring India, it stands at three. Similarly, all over the world, trade bodies’ tenure varies between three to four years.
Practically speaking, in the long-term, this not only helps the trade body to adopt realistic and sustainable policies but also aids in dealing with government departments and foreign trade bodies to establish a rapport with the different economic policies, as per FPCCI statement.
It stands as an established fact that international trade bodies, economic forums and conferences have also criticised the frequent change of representatives of the FPCCI who participate in agreements and talks. The FPCCI is a member of eight major international forums where it has to participate regularly in meetings and conferences.
FPCCI is a crucial bridge between the government and the private business sector for the continuation and implementation of day-to-day policies. The problem faced by these bodies was that it was not possible for the representative organisations to work uniformly for a year.
In practice, the tenure was extended only nine months as the last three months were seen as election schedules all over the country. Hence, the newly elected office-bearers were unable to draw their line of action in accordance with the past performances of their bodies and implement their thoughts within the short period of just nine months.
Therefore, this amendment was an important requirement for the implementation of policies for economic, industrial and commercial organisations. Trade and industry circles all over the country have warmly welcomed the newly introduced bill and appreciated the economic-oriented policies of the government.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 15th, 2022.
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