§ Mr. Robert Taylorasked the Secretary of State for Employment and Productivity when the Report of the Monopolies Commission on Refusal to Supply will be published; and whether he will make a statement.
§ Mr. BryanThe Report was published this morning. The Commission found that the practice of refusal to supply was190W widespread but the direct evidence of the effects available to the Commission was of limited value. The Commission concluded that no mischief had been uncovered which would justify them in recommending further substantial legislation as a remedy but there were three situations where damage to the public interest might be involved. These were where refusal to supply was designed to influence resale prices, where refusal was the result of a threatened boycott by existing outlets, and where the supplier was not operating under reasonably competitive conditions.
The Commission recommended that the Resale Prices Act, 1964, should be amended to make it more difficult for a supplier to refuse supplies—with the object of discouraging price competition—without risk of legal action, and to provide that civil proceedings brought on behalf of the Crown in this connection should be heard by the Restrictive Practices Court. The Commission also considered it desirable that the Department of Employment and Productivity should watch for any cases of distributors or their associations exerting collective pressure on suppliers in their choice of distribution channels and should consider making references under monopolies legislation where appropriate in such cases, or, in other cases, of refusals by suppliers appearing to fall within the scope of the legislation.
I am considering the two specific recommendations made by the Commission, which would of course require legislation. I accept in principle their suggestion that, with a view to making references in appropriate cases to the Monopolies Commission, the Government should keep a watch for cases where undesirable types of refusal to supply may be practised. In this context, I attach particular importance to the views of the Commission that competition should not be inhibited by refusal to supply except where on balance the result is greater efficiency, and that investigation may be necessary in all cases where reasonably competitive conditions do not prevail.
My Department will be holding consultations with representatives of industry and the distributive trades on the action to be taken in the light of the Commission's Report.