§ Mr. BarnesTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, (1) pursuant to her answer of 25 March 2002,Official Report, column 696W, if she will place in the Library details of her Department's strategy and procedures for enforcing the regulatory controls under Part XI of the Fair Trading Act 1973 and its amendments; and if she will make a statement; [50467]
(2) pursuant to her answer of 25 March 2002, Official Report, column 695W, if she will place in the Library details of her Department' s strategy and procedures for handling inquiries from the public on whether particular trading schemes are subject to the provisions of Part XI of the Fair Trading Act 1973 and its amendments; and if she will make a statement; [50466]
(3) pursuant to her answer of 25 March 2002, Official Report, column 695W, on representations to her Department for amendments to the definition of single tier established in the Fair Trading Act 1973, if trading schemes with more than one UK master franchise that do not comply with the regulatory controls are classified as illegitimate trading schemes; and if she will make a statement; [50464]
(4) pursuant to her answer of 25 March, Official Report, column 695W, if she will place in the Library details of her Department's strategy and procedures for protecting small participants who do not opt to register for VAT, thus ensuring their continued protection via the regulatory controls under Part XI of the Fair Trading Act 1973 and its amendments; and if she will make a statement; [50468]
(5) pursuant to her answer of 25 March 2002, Official Report, column 695W, on representations to her Department for amendments to the definition of single tier established in the Fair Trading Act 1973, if she will place in the Library the description of Government policy on multi-level trading provided to those parts of the franchise industry lobbying for an additional exemption in S.I. 1997 No. 1887. [50465]
§ Miss Melanie Johnson[holding answer 16 April 2002]: Where a breach of legislation over which the Department has oversight is identified, and that breach is addressed by way of criminal sanction, the Department will consider bringing a prosecution, taking account of the evidential and public interest tests set out in the Code of Crown Prosecutors.
The Department is unable to give legal advice about individual schemes in response to inquires from the public. The circumstances of individual schemes will vary. Individuals are advised that they should seek independent and impartial business and legal advice on a scheme prior to signing any agreement.
All trading schemes within the scope of current legislation are expected to comply with the regulatory controls. Whether and how the regulatory controls apply will depend on the operation of the individual scheme. In particular, in order to establish whether a scheme is a 1153W "single-tier" scheme for the purpose of the legislation, a detailed assessment is required of the characteristics of the scheme in question.
The effect of the legislation is that, if all participants in a scheme are not making taxable supplies in the UK and not registered for VAT, the regulatory controls would apply. The issue of when to register for VAT purposes is a matter to be determined by reference to revenue legislation.