Price Commission Act 1977

15 Amendments relating to the code and other amendments of 1973 Act

(1) In section 2 of the 1973 Act (which among other things provides for the preparation and alteration of a code for the purposes of that Act), after subsection (2) there shall be inserted the following subsection—

(2A) The code shall not provide for the restriction of any prices or charges by reference to the costs of producing or distributing the goods or performing the services in question; but nothing in this subsection shall prevent the code from containing provisions under which, by reference to such costs, prices or charges which apart from those provisions could be restricted to a particular extent by virtue of the code are not to be so restricted by virtue of the code or are not to be restricted to that extent.

(2) A code prepared in pursuance of the said section 2 and contained in an order under that section which is made after the passing of this Act may, as so prepared, include any provisions which, immediately after the making of the order, could have been inserted in the code by way of changes made by virtue of 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).

(3) Such a code may contain provisions requiring the Commission, in a case where the Secretary of State gives notice to the Commission stating that in his opinion the sanction provisions may be, or may when they were in force have been, applicable to an employer mentioned in the notice, to give a notification in pursuance of subsection (1) of section 5 of this Act in respect of such prices charged and such charges made by the employer as the Commission consider are relevant or, as the case may be, in respect of the margin of the employer; and—

(a) in relation to prices charged and charges made by an employer to whom such a notice relates the said subsection (1) shall have effect as if for paragraph (a) there were substituted the words " (a) a price; or "; and

(b) a recommendation made in pursuance of section 6(5)(b)(i) of this Act in consequence of such a notice may, notwithstanding anything in this Act apart from this subsection and in particular notwithstanding anything in section 6(6) or 9 of this Act, recommend that the prices or charges or margin in question be reduced to such an extent as the Commission think appropriate for the purpose of giving effect to the sanction provisions or, if those provisions have ceased to be in force, for the purpose of giving effect to them in connection with any period when they were in force.

(4) The 1973 Act shall have effect subject to the provisions of Schedule 2 to this Act.