Chamber drafts changes to PERA, EPA laws

Gillani assures business a hearing before finance, commerce and industry committees

LAHORE:

The Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry has prepared amendments to laws governing the Punjab Enforcement and Regulatory Authority, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Punjab Food Authority and presented them to the Punjab Assembly speaker, its president, Ali Hussam Asghar, told Senate Chairman Syed Yousaf Raza Gillani.

Asghar said businesses faced raids, inspections and arrests under regulatory laws, leaving businessmen apprehensive about routine activity, and that unnecessary raids, humiliating treatment and arrests without adequate consideration of circumstances were damaging confidence.

He said the chamber was not against regulation, but that violations should be addressed through financial penalties and corrective measures rather than arrests.

Gillani told the chamber that the business community would be given an opportunity to present its views before the Senate standing committees on finance, economics, commerce and industry, saying effective policymaking required meaningful consultation with stakeholders. He said taxation, regulatory challenges, policy discontinuity and the rising cost of doing business were genuine concerns and must be addressed.

He encouraged the chamber to maintain active engagement with parliamentary institutions, saying its practical experience and sector-specific insights could contribute to legislative deliberations, and that when businesses prospered, employment expanded and the country became economically stronger.

He said the Senate, as the House of Federation, provided a platform for examining economic challenges and would promote a legislative environment that protected legitimate business interests.

Asghar proposed making the chamber president an ex-officio member of the Senate's economic standing committees, and asked Gillani to help establish a mechanism for reviewing business-related legislation at federal and provincial level, including a special review committee to assess existing laws' impact on trade and industry.