§ Mr. Christopher Priceasked the Secretary of State for Trade if, in the interests of promoting competition in the supply of news, he will refer the news gathering and dissemination activities of the Press Association to the Monopolies and Mergers Commission.
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§ Mr. Skeetasked the Secretary of State for Trade whether he is satisfied that strict liability for development risks will not deter innovation in the draft directive on product liability unless exemption is permitted where fault is not discoverable by technology prevailing at the time.
§ Mrs. Sally OppenheimMy Department is now considering the views of the interested parties whom it consulted last year about the draft directive. A number of these bodies have argued that strict liability will deter innovation unless a state of the art defence is added to the draft. The Government will, of course, take account of these and all other views expressed before deciding their attitude to the draft.