HC Deb 27 February 1985 vol 74 cc191-2W
45. Mr. Chope

asked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what additional measures he intends to take in 1985 further to promote competition.

Mr. Norman Lamont

My right hon. Friend will continue to seek to promote competition across the whole range of his responsibilities. 1985 has already seen the publication of a White Paper on financial services which gives priority to competition, and an extension of the role of the Director General of Fair Trading in civil aviation. A European Commission regulation on selective distribution systems for motor vehicles, adopted with the support of the Government, comes into force in July, with the aim of ensuring freer play of market forces in the Community market for motor vehicles. The implications for competition will also be a major element in his review of the legislation on intellectual property rights. My right hon. Friend will be examining the scope for further relaxation of advertising and other restrictions within the professions. He will continue to exercise his responsibilities under the Fair Trading and Competition Acts. He will also play a full part in ensuring that the Government as a whole continues to promote competition, to the benefit of consumers, as it has already done by such policies as the liberalisation of telecommunications and of long distance coach services, the ending of the opticians' monopoly on the sale of spectacles, and the abolition of price controls.