§ Mr. MossI beg to move amendment No. 25, in page 25, line 31, at end insert—
'() For the purposes of any order under section 56 of the Act of 1973 or section 10 of the Act of 1980, section 90(4) of the Act (power to apply orders to existing agreements) shall have effect in relation to a regulatory provision as it has effect in relation to an agreement.'.At present non-statutory professional associations of osteopaths are subject to the monopoly provisions of the Fair Trading Act 1973 and the provisions concerning anti-competitive practices in the Competition Act 1980.The Secretary of State for Trade and Industry has the authority to make orders by statutory instrument to require the associations to make any changes to their rules or guidance, that the Secretary of State considers necessary, to remedy effects that a Monopolies and Mergers Commission report have found to be adverse to the public interest.
The purpose of clause 32 is to ensure that the statutory regulations of the osteopathic profession should not remove the rules of the profession from the scope of competition law. That would be the result if rules made under statutory authority were not considered to be agreements for the purposes of the Fair Trading Act 1973.
Clause 32 empowers the Secretary of State to make a competition order under the provisions of the Fair Trading Act or the Competition Act in respect of any 433 regulatory provisions made by the general council and its statutory committees—the education committee, the investigating committee, the professional conduct committee and health committee—or any of its other committees, including sub-committees.
The amendment makes it clear that the principle is that regulatory provisions, as defined under clause 32(1) shall be treated as agreements—the purpose of orders made by the Secretary of State follow reports by the Monopolies and Mergers Commission under the Fair Trading Act 1973 or the Competition Act 1980. The amendment makes it clear that the principle applies to section 90(4) of the Fair Trading Act.
§ Amendment agreed to.