HL Deb 11 November 1976 vol 377 cc784-5

[No.10]

Clause 5, page 4, line 38, leave out from beginning to 'are' in line 1 on page 5 and insert—

'(1)The Restrictive Trade Practices Act 1976 does not apply to an agreement satisfying the following conditions, namely—

  1. (a)it is in writing and made between two or more persons carrying on business in the production or supply of petroleum and—
    1. (i)is made by them with the Secretary of State and each other, and
    2. (ii)contains a power for the Secretary of State to terminate it on the ground that its continuance is no longer expedient in the national interest;
  2. (b)no such restrictions are accepted under it as would (apart from this subsection) make it subject to registration under the 1976 Act, other than restrictions—
    1. (i)in respect of the matters mentioned in section 6(1)(a)to (c)of the Act (regulations of prices and terms and conditions of sale), and
    2. (ii)relating only to petroleum;
  3. (c)it is so expressed that restrictions under it in respect of those matters are operative when, and only when, there is for the time being in force an Order in Council under section 3 of this Act.

(1A)Without prejudice to the foregoing, an agreement made at a time when there is in force such an Order in Council and satisfying the conditions set out below, is exempt from registration under the 1976 Act (subject to this section) while the Order is in force.

(2)The conditions for exemption under subsection (1A) above'.

Lord KIRKHILL

My Lords, I beg to move that this House doth agree with the Commons in their Amendment No. 10. As a result of representations made in another place and made by the oil industry, the Government examined the possibility of widening the exemptions under Clause 5 during an emergency—that is, when an Order in Council under Clause 3 is in force—to include agreements regulating price and terms and conditions of sale falling under Section 6(1)(a) to (c) of the Restrictive Trade Practices Act 1976. This Amendment meets the arguments put to the Government, and I have pleasure in commending it to your Lordships' House.

Moved, That the House doth agree with the Commons in the said Amendment.—(Lord Kirkhill.)