§ 14. Mr. Hopkinsasked the President of the Board of Trade how many groups of cases, covering how many individual cases, seeking exemption from the ban on Resale Price Maintenance have been brought by the Registrar of Restrictive Practices before the court; and how many groups of cases, covering how many 666 individual cases, still await consideration by the court.
§ Mr. DarlingI am informed by the Registrar that proceedings under the Resale Prices Act have been started in respect of 32 cases, covering about 140 whole classes of registered goods and parts of a further 20 classes. The Registrar is not able to estimate the number of court cases that will be necessary to cover the other parts of these 20 classes, and the remaining 350 classes of registered goods.
§ Mr. HopkinsCould the Minister of State give any indication of how long he expects this process to take?
§ Mr. DarlingAt this stage I think that would be extremely difficult. As I am sure the hon. Gentleman is aware, the beginning of proceedings in these matters takes some considerable time. The Registrar must get the cases prepared. I am afraid that it would be impossible at this stage to give any indication of the timetable.
§ Mr. DarlingI am afraid I cannot say without notice. The right hon. and learned Gentleman will know more about these proceedings than I do. I understand that in about 10 cases the indications have been given to those concerned. They are preparing for their appearances before the court.