§ 31. Mr. Edmund Dellasked the President of the Board of Trade what is the average annual value of sales of goods covered by the Resale Prices Act; how many applications for exemptions have been registered under the Act; what is the annual retail value of goods covered by these applications; how many of these applications have now been voluntarily withdrawn; and what is the annual retail value of applications so abandoned.
§ The Minister of State, Board of Trade (Mr. George Darling)Precise information about the value of goods sold subject to resale price maintenance is not available. Some time before the enactment of the Resale Prices Act it was estimated that about 40 per cent. of consumers' expenditure on goods was on price maintained goods, which would imply an annual value of, broadly, £5,000 million. Under the Resale Prices Act, resale price maintenance is now unlawful, except in respect of goods which have been registered.
I understand from the Registrar that 654 applications have been accepted for registration, but no estimate is available of the retail value of the goods to which the applications relate, nor of the extent to which suppliers of registered goods are continuing to practise resale price maintenance. The Act contains no provision for the withdrawal of applications, once they have been entered on the register.