§ Dr. CableTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what powers he has(a) to stop and (b) to regulate the application of charges for the use of ATM cash points in the LINK system. [113181]
§ Mr. Byers[holding answer 6 March 2000]Under the new Competition Act the Director General of Fair Trading can investigate whether the LINK agreement on surcharges is in any way anti-competitive and he now has powers to impose severe penalties for infringements of the prohibitions of the Act.
Section 4 of the Prices Act 1974 gives me powers to make an Order requiring that charges are indicated for goods and services. If the banking industry does not reach a satisfactory voluntary agreement on the display of charges I will use my powers to require them to display prices transparently before the transaction takes place.