§ Mr. Corbettasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will refer to the Office of Fair Trading the competitive situation in the electrical goods market with a view to an assessment as to whether the best interests of consumers would be served by further concentration of ownership of retail outlets and market share.
§ Mr. HowardIt is one of the duties of the Director General of Fair Trading to advise my right hon. Friend whether a merger or merger proposal should be referred to the Monopolies and Mergers Commission for further investigation. It is the role of the MMC under the Fair Trading Act 1973 to examine the specific mergers or merger proposals which have been referred to it. The Commission has no locus under a merger reference to examine the competitive situation in a whole sector of the market, unless it considers the question to be relevant in the circumstances of a particular case under investigation.
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§ Mr. Alan ClarkDetails of overseas direct investment (excluding oil), inward and outward, manufacturing and non-manufacturing for EC and non-EC countries are given in the table. EC figures exclude Spain and Portugal and include all other members for all years shown.