Islamabad: Consumer Rights Commission (CRCP) expressed its strong reservations on the proposed draft of Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA), which is shortly to be enacted through an ordinance. CRCP said that the proposed draft of Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) is inadequate and insensitive to consumer interests and a negation of the very essence and rationale behind the establishment of any regulatory body.

CRCP believed that the regulators are supposed to hear all the stakeholders including regulatory bodies, government and the consumers and then make decisions and tariff determination. The Section 9 (chapter II) entitled "Authority hearings" of the proposed draft reads "any decision that the authority has the powers to make may be made on its own motion or initiative after holding of a meeting of the Authority, and without giving a notice to the public, and without holding a hearing" The section clearly states that the Authority can decide any issue without necessarily soliciting public opinion and giving any possibility for citizens and consumers of petroleum products and natural gas to present their views before the Authority. The right of participation has explicitly been granted under Section 4(c) and Section 6(f) of Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) and under Section 7 (6) and Section 31(3) (b) of National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) respectively.
CRCP stated that this would undermine consumers interests vis-a-vis powerful business and compromise the considerations of transparency and participation of all stakeholders. CRCP believed that the definitions in Section 2 (Chapter I) dealing with consumer protection are very restrictive and do not recognize consumer groups and public interest organizations as the legitimate stake holders.

CRCP maintained that the OGRA draft does not provide adequate guarantees for
environment protection. It is an established fact that Oil and Gas Industry is among the major polluters of environment. It has tremendous potential to play havoc with environment. Therefore provisions dealing with environment protection have to be very comprehensive and exhaustive. Whereas the provisions dealing with environment protection are restrictive and inadequate. Particularly the qualification (proviso) to sub- section 3 Section 6 seems to be an attempt to protect the interest of power full oil and gas
companies at the cost of environment.

CRCP stated that the governmental intervention in the mattes of price/tariff determination
is, clearly against the scheme & spirit of regulatory laws. The question should be left to the Authority, which must follow accepted international practices, and no room should be
left for any kind of governmental intervention. It may be pointed out that existing regulatory framework, like PTA (See Section 8 of the Act) and NEPRA, do not include such provisions.

CRCP stated that the draft proposes to repeal Natural Gas Regulatory Authority (NGRA) under Section 47 (Chapter VIII) of the proposed ordinance. The issues related to merging of NGRA have not been adequately dealt with and no provisions have been made for the protection of rights of consumers of natural gas. Even the protection given to domestic consumers under section 4(2) (h) & 4(2) (I) and Section 4(2)(K) of NGRA Ordinance 2000 has not been given in the proposed draft.

CRCP further stated that such weak legislative arrangements would not only make the consumers more vulnerable but also adversely impact the business in Pakistan and make the whole sector dependent on this emerging bureaucracy of regulatory bodies. The proposed draft does not guarantee even the minimal protection that is available to consumers under PTA Act 1996 and NEPRA Act 1997. CRCP request the government to optimize the proposed draft, in the light of concerns raised above, before giving it legal effect.