ISLAMABAD, Jan 9: The Senate Standing Committee on Commerce here on Wednesday recommended certain amendments in The Trade Organisation Bill 2012.

Chairing the meeting of committee, Senator Haji Ghulam Ali said that there were certain recommendations given by the stakeholders regarding the bill and those should be considered by the committee.

He said that committee always wanted to promote the business activities in the country by making the effective legislation in National Assembly and Senate of Pakistan.

The Committee recommended that the name of district chamber should have affinity with the concerned district or where the chamber was being established. Further it was recommended that the chambers would be established in only district not in division.

“The presentation of associate sector or small business should be ensured and the division of small traders and corporate sector should be discouraged”, the committee said.

Moreover, the nomination for president of chambers should be on the rotation basis, one year from associate class and other year from corporate sector.

And the period of suspension of the membership would be reduced to four month from two years with penalty of 50 per cent fee to members who did not pay the fee on time.

Also, the president for federation body would be nominated on the rotation basis from each province for one year and in addition, vice president would be nominated for federation body from province’s women chamber.

The Director General Trade Organisation (DGTO) should not be replaced by regulator, the committee said. Speaking in the meeting, Secretary Commerce Munir Qureshi said that the National Assembly (NA) committee on Commerce and the ministry has taken all the stakeholders in the confidence regarding the bill.

“The chambers should play vital role for broadening the net base in the country which is beneficial for the government and business community”, he added.

While speaking in the meeting, Ishaq Dar said, “The ministry should make such rules which negate the division of the business class and corporate class because it would not be manageable”.

State Minister for Commerce, Abbas Khan Afridi said, “the period of suspension of membership with chambers would be reduced as the member can contest the election and in addition, he can cast vote in the election”.—APP