§ Mr. Goodhartasked the President of of the Board of Trade whether there have been any changes in the undertakings given to him by the British Oxygen Company Limited, in March 1958, following the Report of the Monopolies Commission on Industrial and Medical Gases.
§ Mr. ErrollYes. When the Commission reported in 1956, the British Oxygen Company was effectively the sole supplier in this field. Following the Report my predecessor obtained from the company a number of undertakings, details of which were made available to the House on 21st March, 1958. The Board of Trade recognised that the situation as it was when considered by the Monopolies Commission might change and that if there were a material change the company might ask the Board of Trade to review the undertakings. There has since been considerable change in the 31W industry and in its competitive conditions. For technical reasons a substantial part of industrial demand has shifted from oxygen as liquid or in cylinders to direct supply from new tonnage plants located at customers' works. In addition, a new supplier who is free from the limitations accepted by the British Oxygen Company Limited has entered the field in competition with them. In consequence the British Oxygen Company has requested release from certain of the undertakings.
I have agreed that so far as the larger consumers are concerned, that is to say, those taking 12,000 cubic feet or more a year of any one gas, the company may be released from the obligations to publish and apply national prices and to limit the duration of contracts to one year, and will be free to negotiate contracts with individual customers for the whole or part of their requirements. These changes are intended to free the company from handicap in competing with other suppliers, without prejudicing the position of the consumers concerned. The other undertakings remain unaltered. For smaller consumers, who are numerically 80 per cent. of the company's customers, the undertakings will be maintained in full.