Price Commission Act 1977

Miscellaneous

18 Grants towards expenditure in providing information about prices etc.

(1) The Secretary of State may make from time to time, out of money provided by Parliament, grants to persons in respect of expenditure incurred by them after 31st March 1977 in connection with the collection and dissemination of information relating to prices and charges and other information of interest to users of goods and services and in connection with the giving of advice relating to prices and charges; and a grant in pursuance of this section shall be made on such terms as the Secretary of State determines with the approval of the Treasury.

(2) The preceding subsection shall have effect, in relation to grants under that subsection in Northern Ireland, with the omission of the words " out of money provided by Parliament" and with the substitution for references to the Secretary of State and the Treasury respectively of references to the Department of Commerce for Northern Ireland and the Department of Finance for Northern Ireland.

(3) The grants to be disregarded in determining for any year the amount available for grants to local authorities in pursuance of subsection (2) of section 1 of the [1974 c. 7.] Local Government Act 1974 (which relates to rate support grants) shall include any grant in pursuance of this section ; and the expenditure to be disregarded in calculating the relevant expenditure mentioned in subsection (4) of that section shall include expenditure mentioned in subsection (1) of this section.

19 Provisions relating to the Director General of Fair Trading

(1) If information about an agreement which appears to the Commission to be subject to registration under Part I of the [1976 c. 34.] Restrictive Trade Practices Act 1976 and not to be registered under that Part comes to the knowledge of the Commission, it shall be the duty of the Commission to send particulars of the information to the Director General of Fair Trading (hereafter in this section referred to as " the Director ") and to send a copy of the particulars to the Secretary of State.

(2) It shall be the duty of the Director to make available to the Commission—

(a) such of the information and evidence obtained by him by virtue of section 2(1) or (2) of the [1973 c. 41.] Fair Trading Act 1973 (which relates to certain commercial activities in the United Kingdom) as he considers it appropriate to provide for the Commission or as the Commission request him to provide for them, other than information of which the disclosure is prohibited by section 133(1) of that Act; and

(b) such assistance as he considers it appropriate to provide for the Commission or the Commission request him to provide for them.

(3) The duty in respect of any undertaking relating to prices, charges or profits which is imposed on the Director by section 88(4) of the said Act of 1973 (which among other things provides for the Director to supervise and give advice about certain undertakings) shall, if the Secretary of State so directs, be a duty of the Commission instead of a duty of the Director; and it shall be the duty of the Secretary of State to specify, in any direction he gives in pursuance of this subsection, the undertakings to which the direction relates and to serve copies of the direction on the Director and the Commission and such other persons as appear to the Secretary of State to be concerned.

(4) The duty in respect of any order containing provisions relating to prices which is imposed on the Director by section 88(5) of the said Act of 1973 (which among other things provides for the Director to supervise, give advice about and enforce certain orders) shall, if the Secretary of State so directs, be a duty of the Commission instead of a duty of the Director; and it shall be the duty of the Secretary of State to specify, in any direction he gives in pursuance of this subsection, the orders to which it relates and to serve copies of the direction on the Director and the Commission and such other persons as appear to the Secretary of State to be concerned. In this subsection "provisions relating to prices" means provisions included in the order in question by virtue of any of the provisions of paragraphs 8 to 11 of Schedule 8 to the said Act of 1973.

20 Further duties to have regard to specified matters and sanction provisions

(1) It shall be the duty of the Secretary of State, in performing any of the functions mentioned in the following subsection, to have regard to all matters which appear to him in the particular circumstances to be relevant with a view to restraining prices of goods and charges for services so far as that appears to him to be consistent with the making of adequate profits by efficient suppliers of goods and services and to have regard in particular to the matters mentioned in section 2(2) of this Act so far as he considers them relevant; but the Secretary of State may disregard the duty imposed on him by the preceding provisions of this subsection if he thinks it right to do so in connection with the sanction provisions.

(2) The functions referred to in the preceding subsection are—

(a) the function of determining whether to give a notice in pursuance of section 4(3) or 5(5) of this Act;

(b) the function of determining whether to make an order in pursuance of section 7 or 12 of this Act and of determining the terms of such an order;

(c) the function of determining whether to accept an undertaking in the exercise of a power conferred on him by either of those sections ;

(d) the function of determining whether to specify a day, and which day to specify, in pursuance of section 7(8)(b) of this Act; and

(e) the function of determining whether to give, vary or cancel a direction in pursuance of section 10 of this Act.

(3) It shall be the duty of the Commission to have regard to the sanction provisions in performing their functions under this Act; and where that duty conflicts with the duty imposed on the Commission by section 2(1) of this Act their duty to have regard to the sanction provisions shall prevail.