§ 2 Clause 2, page 1, line 7, at end insert:
§ '(2) This Act shall apply to any contract for sale of goods which is made after this Act comes into force.
§ (3) This Act shall come into force at the end of the period of two months beginning with the day on which it is passed.
§ (4) Section 1 and this section extend to Northern Ireland.'.
§ Lord RentonMy Lords, I beg to move that the House do agree with the second Commons amendment which adds three new subsections to Clause 2 of the Bill. The first merely makes it clear that the Bill would not be retrospective. Subsection (3) provides that,
This Act shall come into force at the end of the period of two months".That has become common form—a matter that I overlooked when drafting the Bill.Subsection (4) makes it clear that the Bill applies to Northern Ireland. I am surprised that the Government were advised that it was necessary because the market overt rule has never applied in any part of Ireland in days gone by.
Before I invite the noble Baroness on the Woolsack to put the Question, perhaps I may say that although I welcome the Commons amendments, they cause me some disappointment because I believe that without them the Bill would have been the shortest ever passed into law.
§ Moved, That the House do agree with the Commons in their Amendment No. 2.—(Lord Renton.)
969§ On Question, Motion agreed to.
§ Moved accordingly and, on Question, Motion agreed to.
§ [The Sitting was suspended from 8.20 to 8.45 p.m.]