Price Commission Act 1977

Supplemental

21 Transitional provisions

(1) An order in force under section 2 of the 1973 Act immediately before this subsection comes into force shall not be affected by subsection (2A) of that section before 1st October 1977.

(2) An order coming into force under the said section 2 on or after 1st August 1977 may contain provisions for securing that, notwithstanding anything in the said subsection (2A), prices and charges are restricted by reference to such costs as are mentioned in that subsection in such manner as the Secretary of State considers appropriate for preserving restrictions imposed before that date.

(3) Without prejudice to the generality of the preceding subsection—

(a) where before 1st August 1977 the Commission have given notice in pursuance of subsection (4) of section 6 of the 1973 Act (which provides for the giving of fourteen days notice of an order or notice under that section restricting prices or charges), any order or notice in respect of which the notice under the said subsection (4) was given and which is made or given under mat section on or after that date may contain provisions by reference to the code as it was in force immediately before that date; and

(b) where during the period of twenty-eight days ending with 31st July 1977 notice of an increase has been given to the Commission in pursuance of an order under section 5 of the 1973 Act, the Commission may, by an order or notice given or made under the said section 6 after that date, restrict the increase by reference to the code as it was in force on that date.

(4) Where, in consequence of a notice of an increase given to the Commission in pursuance of an order under section 5 of the 1973 Act before the coming into force of this subsection, the increase or part of it could have been implemented before 1st October 1977 without contravening such an order but was not wholly implemented before that date, the notice shall be treated on and after that date as not extending to so much of the increase or part as was not implemented before that date.

(5) Any order or notice in force under section 6 of the 1973 Act immediately before words in subsection (1) of that section cease to be in force by virtue of section 17(3) of this Act shall continue in force as if those words had continued in force and may be revoked or varied accordingly ; and the Commission may, at any time after those words cease to be in force, make such further orders and give such further notices under the said section 6 as the Commission consider appropriate for preserving restrictions imposed when those words were in force.

22 Interpretation, supplementary provisions and repeals

(1) In this Act—

• " the 1973 Act " means the [1973 c. 9.] Counter-Inflation Act 1973 ;

• " charge ", " the code ", " goods " and " price " have the meanings assigned to them by section 21(1) of the 1973 Act;

• " the Commission " means the Price Commission ;

• " effective date " means, in relation to a report in pursuance of subsection (1) of section 6 of this Act in respect of an increase or a price, the date on which a copy of the report is given to the relevant person in pursuance of paragraph (c) of that subsection ;

• " publication date ", in relation to a report in pursuance of section 6(1) of this Act in respect of a margin or a report in pursuance of section 11(1) of this Act, means the date on which the report is first published in pursuance of subsection (9) of section 6 of this Act or that subsection as applied by section 11(3) of this Act;

• " regulations " means regulations made by the Secretary of State;

• " relevant person " has the meanings assigned to it by sections 4(2) and 5(2) of this Act; and

• " the sanction provisions " means provisions included in the code by virtue of section 15(2) of this Act or section 3 of the [1975 c. 57.] Remuneration, Charges and Grants Act 1975 (which relates to a sanction against the payment of remuneration in excess of certain limits).

(2) The Secretary of State may by order—

(a) provide that such of the provisions of this Act as are specified in the order shall not apply in such cases as are so specified;

(b) vary or revoke any order in force by virtue of this subsection;

but no order shall be made in pursuance of this subsection unless a draft of the order has been approved by a resolution of each House of Parliament.

(3) Any power conferred by this Act to make an order or regulations shall be exercisable by statutory instrument and any statutory instrument made by virtue of this subsection (except an instrument containing only such an order as is mentioned in section 12(7) of this Act or containing only an order of which a draft was approved as mentioned in the preceding subsection) shall be subject to annulment in pursuance of a resolution of either House of Parliament; but nothing in the preceding provisions of this subsection affects a power to make an order conferred by section 16(1) or 17(2) of this Act or conferred on a court or judge.

(4) Proceedings for an offence under this Act shall not be instituted in England and Wales except with the consent of the Attorney General and shall not be instituted in Northern Ireland except with the consent of the Attorney General for Northern Ireland; and in any such proceedings it shall be a defence for the person charged to prove that he took all reasonable precautions and exercised all due diligence to avoid the commission of the offence.

It is hereby declared that references in the preceding provisions of this subsection to an offence under this Act do not include an offence attributable to section 13(5) or 16 of this Act.

(5) No action for damages shall lie in respect of a failure by the Secretary of State or the Commission or such an authority as is mentioned in section 13 of this Act to perform a duty imposed by virtue of this Act.

(6) Except where the contrary intention appears, any reference in this Act to any enactment is a reference to it as amended by or under any other enactment, including an enactment in this Act.

(7) The enactments mentioned in the first and second column of Schedule 3 to this Act are hereby repealed to the extent specified in the third column of that Schedule.

23 Expenses

There shall be paid out of money provided by Parliament—

(a) any administrative expenses incurred by a Government department in consequence of this Act; and

(b) any increase attributable to this Act in the sums payable under any other Act out of money so provided.

24 Citation and commencement

(1) This Act may be cited as the Price Commission Act 1977.

(2) This Act, except the following provisions namely section 17(1) and (2), this section and paragraphs 1, 3(2) and (3) and 4(b) and (d) of Schedule 2, shall come into force on 1st August 1977, and accordingly those provisions come into force at the passing of this Act.