§ Mr. Sydney Chapmanasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will examine the operation of Section 11 of the Trade Descriptions Act 1968 whereby a prosecution relating to a false reference to a previous price can succeed only if it is proved that the alleged previous price was not charged for any consecutive period of 28 days during the previous six months, as this in practice is difficult to prove.
§ Sir G. HoweI will gladly consider any suggestions my hon. Friend may have for amending this provision when the Act as a whole is reviewed.
§ Mr. Sydney Chapmanasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will seek to amend the Trade Descriptions Act 1968 as necessary so that a company is held liable for the action of its own employees, following the House of Lords decision in the case of Tesco Supermarkets Ltd. v. Nattrass, 1971 2WLR 1166.
§ Sir G. HoweI will consider this point when the working of the Act as a whole is reviewed.
§ Mr. Sydney Chapmanasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will seek to amend Section 28 of the Trade Descriptions Act 1968 so that the power to require the production of documents is freed from the conditions of "reasonable cause to suspect" an offence, which otherwise precludes a weights and measures inspector from checking an article unless he has grounds to believe it is deficient.
§ Sir G. HoweAn authorised enforcement officer may inspect any goods for the purpose of ascertaining whether an offence under the Trade Descriptions Act has occurred whether or not he has reasonable cause to suspect that there is an offence. This condition must be satisfied before he can inspect books or documents. I have seen no evidence that would justify the removal of this not unreasonable limitation.