§ Mr. EmeryI beg to move Amendment No. 48, in line 9, leave out 'any of the provisions' and insert 'subsection (1) or subsection (2)'.
This is a drafting amendment to remove any possibility of doubt on what is a technical point. Clause 54(3) spells out how the Commission is to proceed when it concludes that a monopoly is operating against the public interest. It has to go on to consider possible remedies and to make recommendations. It is the intention that this procedure should be followed in all cases where the commission is called upon to consider the public interest issue.
It is possible that Clause 54(3) as it stands might be thought ambiguous. This is because it refers to the facts found by the commission in its investigation under any of the provisions of Clause 49. When we turn back to Clause 49 it will be seen that the expression "any facts" appear only in subsection (1) dealing with monopoly reference framed in general terms and not in subsection (2) dealing with limited references. In the latter case the commission is not asked to report on the facts but to report on the acts or the omissions of the monopolist.
1803 If Clause 54 were left as printed there could be room for doubt whether subsection (3) was intended to apply to investigations under Clause 49(2). The amendment puts it beyond doubt that investigations under both subsections (1) and (2) of Clause 49 are covered.
§ Amendment agreed to.
§ Mr. EmeryI beg to move Amendment No. 49, in page 39, line 21, at end insert:
'(5) Where, on a monopoly reference not limited to the facts, the Commission find—This amendment is slightly simpler. It is intended to prevent any overlapping of the functions of the Monopolies Commission and the Restrictive Practices Court.the Commission, in making their report on that reference, shall exclude from their consideration the question whether the provisions of that agreement, in so far as they are provisions by virtue of which it is an agreement to which Part I of that Act applies, operate, or may be expected to operate, against the public interest; and subsection (3) of this section, in so far as it refers to facts found by the Commission in pursuance of their investigations, shall have effect subject to the provisions of this subsection '.
- (a) that a monopoly situation exists, and
- (b) that the person (or, if more than one, any of the persons) in whose favour it exists is a party to an agreement to which Part I of the Act of 1956 applies,
§ Amendment agreed to.