HC Deb 03 June 1947 vol 438 cc77-8
Mr. Lyttelton

I beg to move, in page 4, line 11,at the end, to insert: Nothing in the last foregoing subsection shall authorise or be deemed to authorise a development council to require persons carrying on business in the industry to furnish any information with regard to a manufacturing process which the said persons carrying on a business in the industry claim to be a trade secret without direct authority so to do first having been obtained from the board or Minister concerned. Let me begin by recognising that there is here a real difficulty with which the Government must be faced over this matter. There are trade secrets which it would be most undesirable to disclose, and companies and firms would resist most strongly any attempt to make those trade secrets known to their competitors. On the other hand, unless there is some attempt to define a trade secret, which I find very difficult to do, there would be the possibility of an element of obstructiveness frustrating the objects of this Bill. The objects of this Bill command general assent. We should be content if the Government accepted this Amendment, which states that a development council cannot require a company or firm to disclose something which they claim to be a trade secret unless it is referred to the Minister or the Board. Here is a ministerial function in which we should have confidence. This may look at first rather a weak Amendment, but there is a real difficulty. We wish to be reasonable and to understand that somebody who is obstructive might frustrate the whole objects of the Bill if stronger words, were used. This Amendment puts it fairly on the Minister to say whether the claim of this or that company as to a trade secret being disclosed is justified or not. I ask the Government either to accept the Amendment in this form, or else to accept the principle if they have better words. I believe these words are about as far as it is practicable to go while achieving the objects which I believe the President of the Board of Trade has just as strongly at heart as I have.

Sir S. Cripps

I quite appreciate that this is a matter which might cause some concern among certain traders, and as we are most anxious to get the fullest cooperation in this from the traders I should be quite prepared to accept the principle of the Amendment, subject to putting it in a slightly different form in another place. It will of course cause some little embarrassment if people try to use it too much, but we are so anxious that nobody should feel that they will suffer as a result of these councils that we will accept this principle.

Mr. W. Shepherd

I hope that the President of the Board of Trade may find it possible to insert some definition of a trade secret. I appreciate that it is possible for some frivolous objections to be raised and if some formula could be agreed upon which would define within reasonable limits what a trade secret is, there would be some justification for the approach to the Minister.

Sir S. Cripps

I will certainly do that.

Mr. Lyttelton

I thank the President of the Board of Trade for accepting the principle. I do not know whether it is possible to define a secret or whether once one has defined it, it remains a secret. That is a metaphysical question upon which I will not ask the House to follow me this afternoon. In the light of the President's assurances, I beg to ask leave to withdraw the Amendment.

Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.