Clause 7 (Hansard, 27 June 1968)

§ Mr. Dell

I beg to move Amendment No. 14, in page 8, line 12, at end insert: (4) In relation to an agreement for the constitution of a trade association which is subject to registration in consequence of the making of a recommendation to which subsection (7) of section 6 of the Act of 1956 applies, the power of the Court under subsection (3) of this section shall include power to make such order as appears to the Court to be proper for restraining the association or any person acting on its behalf from making other such recommendations. My attention has been drawn to the possibility that the form of an order which the court may make in the circumstances envisaged in subsection (3) will not be appropriate in the case of a trade association recommendation.

Hon. Members will recall that subsection (3) provides that the Restrictive Practices Court at its discretion may. upon application made by the Registrar, make an order restraining parties to an agreement which has not been registered within the appropriate period from giving effect to or enforcing it, or from giving effect to or enforcing any other agreement which has not been registered within the appropriate period. An order in this form may not be an effective way of dealing with cases occasioned by failures to register recommendations by a trade association. Such recommendations may, of course, fall to be regarded as giving rise to a registrable agreement by virtue of the provisions of Section 6(7) of the 1956 Act.

The form of order which may be necessary to act as an effective deterrent to a trade association may well involve limiting the right of the association to make further recommendations falling within the ambit of Part I of the 1956 Act. Such additional provision is necessary because it is very difficult to prove that the members of an association are 935 complying with a recommendation of such an association—particularly when the recommendation is of a negative character. Moreover, the wording of Section 6(7) of the 1956 Act which relates to trade association recommendations is such that it would seem unlikely, without this provision, that any order could be made under Clause 7 in relation to an incorporated trade association or its officers, but only in relation to its members.