KARACHI: The Overseas Investors Chamber of Comm­erce and Industry (OICCI) on Friday expressed concerns over the newly introduced Companies Act 2017 and feared the shortcomings would adversely affect foreign investors.

In a meeting with Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan’s acting chairman Zafar Abdullah and Commissioner Tahir Mahm­ood, a delegation of the OICCI, led by its secretary general M Abdul Aleem, put forward 10 major concerns related to newly introduced Companies Act 2017, a press release said.

The OICCI members said that SECP should ensure consistency, transparency and predictability in policies for attracting foreign investment.

The OICCI members also felt the need for improving perception and adopting long-term policies.

It was pointed that the operational difficulties in implementing some of the provisions of the newly introduced Companies Act 2017 be removed at the earliest.

One of the key issues discussed in the meeting was extensive scope of related-party transactions under Section 208. The other

issue was related to Section 452 of the companies’ global register of beneficial ownership which is being considered by OICCI as discriminatory and highly negative for attracting large investors.

The delegation said that section 244 of the Companies Act 2017, wherein all unclaimed dividend/shares after three years are to be deposited with government of Pakistan, is highly unfair for the shareholders and is not in line with the practice in developing economies in the region.

The SECP acting chairman expressed his full support for addressing the genuine concerns raised by OICCI and assured that a couple of issues which are within its jurisdiction will be resolved under the law very soon.

However, other problems would also be addressed after taking up the issue with relevant authorities and up on doing necessary legislation, if needed.

In the meantime, some obvious practical difficulties of the business entities to comply with provisions of the Companies Act 2017 would be facilitated by deferring the timelines for compliance, he added.

Published in Dawn, September 9th, 2017