HC Deb 21 January 1972 vol 829 cc297-8W
Mr. Millan

asked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what action he has taken on the recommendations in paragraph 1250 of the Report of the Rochdale Committee that shipping companies should not normally be granted exemption under the Companies Act, 1967, from publishing their true profits and losses.

Mr. Ridley

Since 1967, these exemptions have been granted very sparingly.

Mr. Millan

asked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what action he has taken on the recommendations in paragraph 1442 of the Report of the Rochdale Committee that the Government should encourage the rapid adoption of a code of conduct by shipping conferences.

Mr. Anthony Grant

At the beginning of last year, we and 10 other Governments of European martime countries and the Government of Japan jointly asked our ship owners to prepare a Code of Conference Practice in consulta- tion with our shippers. The resultant code has since been accepted by these 12 Governments and also by the Government of Spain. As I told the House on 9th December, 1971, in reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Aberdeen, South (Mr. Sproat), we have asked our ship owners to work for the adoption of this Code in conferences serving our import and export trades and the other 12 Governments have done the same. We hope that a Code of this kind may ultimately gain world-wide acceptance.