The Competition Act 1998 (Health Services for Patients in Wales) (Coronavirus) (Public Policy Exclusion) Order 2020
2020 No. 435
Competition
The Competition Act 1998 (Health Services for Patients in Wales) (Coronavirus) (Public Policy Exclusion) Order 2020
Made 17th April 2020
Laid before Parliament 20th April 2020
Coming into force in accordance with article 1
The Secretary of State, in exercise of the powers conferred by section 71(3) of, and paragraph 7(1), (2) and (3) of Schedule 3 to, the Competition Act 19981, makes the following Order.
The Secretary of State is satisfied that there are exceptional and compelling reasons of public policy why the Chapter I prohibition (as defined in section 2(8) of that Act) ought not to apply to, or ought to be deemed never to have applied in relation to, agreements of the description specified in this Order.
Citation, commencement and application
1.—(1) This Order may be cited as the Competition Act 1998 (Health Services for Patients in Wales) (Coronavirus) (Public Policy Exclusion) Order 2020 and comes into force on the day after the day on which it is laid before Parliament.
(2) This Order applies to agreements, the purpose of which is to assist the NHS in addressing the effects or likely effects of coronavirus on the provision of health services to patients in Wales.
Interpretation
2. In this Order—
“coronavirus” means severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2);
“facilities” includes the provision of (or the use of) premises, goods, materials, vehicles, plant or apparatus;
“the healthcare disruption period” means the period commencing on 1st March 2020 and ending on the date specified in the notice published by the Secretary of State under article 5(1) as the date on which the healthcare disruption period is to end;
“independent provider” means any person (other than an NHS body) that provides health services for the purposes of the NHS;
“the NHS” means the health service continued under section 1(1) of the National Health Service (Wales) Act 20062;
“NHS body” has the meaning given in section 206 of the National Health Service (Wales) Act 20063;
“qualifying activity” has the meaning given in article 3.
Qualifying activities
3.—(1) For the purposes of this Order a qualifying activity is any activity specified in paragraph (2) insofar as it—
(a)
(a) is for the purpose referred to in article 4(2)(a); and
(b)
(b) does not involve the sharing between independent providers of any information regarding costs or pricing.
(2) The activities specified in this paragraph are—
(a)
(a) information sharing in relation to capacity for providing health services of a particular kind during the healthcare disruption period, including information regarding staff and facilities;
(b)
(b) coordination as regards the deployment of staff between NHS bodies and independent providers or between independent providers during the healthcare disruption period;
(c)
(c) the sharing or loan of facilities for the provision of health services during the healthcare disruption period;
(d)
(d) the joint purchasing of goods, materials, vehicles, plant, apparatus, facilities, or services (including the services of staff), for the purpose of the provision of health services during the healthcare disruption period; and
(e)
(e) coordination as regards the provision of health services which involves agreement that during the healthcare disruption period one or more independent providers or NHS bodies are to undertake a particular activity or type of activity either generally or within a particular geographical area, including agreement to limit or expand the scale or range of health services supplied by one or more independent providers or NHS bodies.
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