Royal arms

Counter-Inflation Act 1973

1973 CHAPTER 9

An Act to establish a Price Commission and a Pay Board; to authorise the formulation of the principles to be applied by those bodies; to afford powers of control over prices, pay, dividends and rents; to provide for the furnishing of information about rates; and for connected purposes.

[22nd March 1973]

Parts I—IV

1 (1)(2)

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F1

(3)(4)

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F2

(5)(6)

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F1

2. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F3

3, 4.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F4

5. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F5

6 (1)—(6)

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F6

(7)

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F7

7. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F8

8. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F9

9, 10.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F10

11—13.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F11

14. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F12

Part V Supplemental

15. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F13

16. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F14

17 Offences

(1)

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F15

(2)—(4).

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F16

(5)

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F15

(6)

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F17where an offence under this Act F18or the M1Price Commission Act 1977 committed by a body corporate is proved to have been committed with the consent or connivance of, or to be attributable to any neglect on the part of, any director, manager, secretary or other similar officer of the body corporate or any person who was purporting to act in any such capacity, he as well as the body corporate shall be guilty of the offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly. F18Where the affairs of a body corporate are managed by its members, the preceding provisions of this subsection shall apply in relation to acts and defaults of a member in connection with his functions of management as if he were a director of the body corporate.

(7)

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F19

(8)

Nothing contained in or having effect under this Act F20or the M2Price Commission Act 1977, and nothing made illegal by this section, shall give rise to any criminal or tortious liability for conspiracy, or to any other liability in tort . . . F21

(9)

Proceedings for an offence under this Act shall not be instituted in England or Wales except by or with the consent of the Attorney General, or in Northern Ireland except by or with the consent of the Attorney General for Northern Ireland F22and 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.

(10)

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F19

18 Offences by unincorporated bodies.

(1)—(3)

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F23

(4)

Where an offence is alleged to have been committed under this Act by an unincorporated body . . . F24

(a)

proceedings for the offence shall be brought in the name of that body (and not in that of any of its members),

(b)

for the purpose of any such proceedings any rules of court relating to the service of documents shall have effect as if that body were a corporation, and

(c)

any fine imposed on conviction shall be enforceable, by way of execution, diligence or otherwise, against the funds of that body.

(5)

Where an offence mentioned in subsection (4) above is an offence punishable on conviction on indictment, section 33 of the M3Criminal Justice Act 1925 and F25Schedule 3 to the M4Magistrates’ Courts Act 1980 shall have effect as if the said body were a corporation.

(6)

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F23

19 Application to Scotland.

(1)

The provisions of this section shall have effect for the application of this Act to Scotland.

(2)

(a)

Where an offence mentioned in section 18(4) of this Act is an offence punishable on conviction on indictment F26section 74 of the M5Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1975 (proceedings on indictment against bodies corporate) shall have effect as if the said body were a body corporate.

(b)

Section 17(8) of this Act shall not apply but nothing contained in, or having effect under, this Act or made illegal by that section shall be relevant for the purposes of any proceedings in reparation . . . F27

20 Application to Northern Ireland.

(1)(2)

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F28

(3)

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F29

(4)

Where an offence mentioned in section 18(4) of this Act is an offence punishable on conviction on indictment, section 18 of the M6Criminal Justice Act (Northern Ireland) 1945 and F30Schedule 4 to the M7Magistrates’ Courts (Northern Ireland) Order 1981 (procedure on charge of an offence against a corporation) shall have effect as if the body there mentioned were a corporation.

(5)

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F31

(a)

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F31

(b)

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F32

and Schedule 4 to this Act shall apply as if

(i)

for references to a local weights and measures authority and to an inspector or chief inspector appointed under the Weights and M8Measures Act 1963 there were substituted respectively references to the Ministry of Commerce for Northern Ireland and any of its officers;

(ii)

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F33

(iii)

references in paragraph 4 to a Minister of the Crown included references to a Minister of Northern Ireland and to a department of the Government of Northern Ireland.

(6)

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F28

(7)

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F34

(8)

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F29

21, 22. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F35

23 Short title, supplemental provisions and repeals.

(1)

F36This Act may be cited as the Counter-Inflation Act 1973.

(2)

Schedules 3 and 4 to this Act (provisions about orders and notices, and about enforcement) shall have effect for supplementing this Act.

(3)

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F36

SCHEDULES

SCHEDULE 1

1

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F37

2 (1)

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F38

(2)

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F39

3 (1)

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F40

(2)—(4)

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F41

4—8.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F42

9

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F43

10—19.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F44

20

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F45

SCHEDULE 2 . . . F46

SCHEDULE 3

Part I

1 (1)(2)

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F47

(3)

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F48

(4)—(10)

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F47

2

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F49

3 (1)(2)

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F50

(3)

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F51

(4)

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F50

4, 5.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F52

6

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F53

7

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F54

Part II

8 (1)

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F55

(2)

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F56

9, 10.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F57

SCHEDULE 4 Enforcement

Section 23.

1—3

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F58

Restriction on disclosure of information obtained under this Act

4 (1)

This paragraph applies to information given or supplied pursuant to Part V of this Act, or obtained in the course of exercising the powers conferred by paragraph 3 above.

(2)

No such information shall be disclosed except—

(a)

with the consent of the person by whom or on whose behalf the information was given or supplied, or as the case may be the owner of the goods or the occupier of the land or premises, or

(b)

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F59

(c)

to any Minister of the Crown, or an officer or servant appointed by, or person exercising functions on behalf of, a Minister of the Crown, or

(d)

in the case of information obtained by a person acting on behalf of a local weights and measures authority, to any officer of that authority, or

(e)

with a view to the institution of, or otherwise for the purpose of, any criminal proceedings pursuant to or arising out of this Act, . . . F60F61or the M9Price Commission Act 1977.

F62, or

(f)

for the purpose of facilitating the performance of any functions of the Price Commission.

(3)

Sub-paragraph (2) above does not apply to information given or supplied to F63the Price Commission in proceedings to which the public are admitted, or contained in any report of F63the Price Commission.