Monopolies and Restrictive Practices (Inquiry and Control) Act 1948
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1948 c. 66 |
| Year | 1948 |
Monopolies and Restrictive Practices (Inquiry and Control) Act, 1948
(11 & 12 Geo. 6.) CHAPTER 66.
An Act to make provision for inquiry into the existence and effects of, and for dealing with mischiefs resulting from, or arising in connection with, any conditions of monopoly or restriction or other analogous conditions prevailing as respects the supply of, or the application of any process to, goods, buildings or structures, or as respects exports.
[30th July 1948]
Be it enacted by the King's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—
The Monopolies and Restrictive Practices Commission.
1 Constitution of Commission.
(1) For the purposes of this Act there shall be constituted a Commission, to be called the Monopolies and Restrictive Practices Commission (in this Act referred to as ‘the Commission’).
(2) The Commission shall consist of not less than four nor more than ten members to be appointed by the Board of Trade.
(3) Every member of the Commission shall hold office for such time (not being less than three nor more than seven years) as may be specified by the Board of Trade in making his appointment, and shall not be eligible for re-appointment:
Provided that—
(a ) the Board may from time to time extend the term of office of a member by such period as the Board think fit, so, however, that his total term of office does not exceed twelve years;
(b ) if a member becomes, in the opinion of the Board, unfit to continue in office or incapable of performing his duties under this Act, the Board shall forthwith declare his office to be vacant and shall notify the fact in such manner as they think fit, and thereupon the office shall become vacant;
(c ) any member may at any time by notice in writing to the Board resign his office.
(4) Such one of the members of the Commission as the Board of Trade may from time to time direct shall be the chairman of the Commission.
(5) The Commission shall appoint a secretary to the Commission and may appoint such other officers and such servants of the Commission as the Commission may, with the consent of the Board of Trade and the Treasury, determine:
Provided that the appointment of any person to be the secretary to the Commission shall be subject to the approval of the Board.
(6) The expenses of the Commission, to such amount as may be determined by the Board of Trade with the approval of the Treasury (including such salaries and other remuneration paid to, and such contributions under pensions schemes paid in respect of, any of their members, officers or servants as may be so determined), shall be paid out of moneys provided by Parliament.
(7) In the case of an equality of votes on any question at a meeting of the Commission, the chairman shall have a second or casting vote.
(8) The quorum necessary for any meeting of the Commission shall be such as the Commission may from time to time determine:
Provided that the quorum necessary at any meeting held for the final settling of a report of the Commission shall not be less than two-thirds of the members of the Commission.
2 General duties of Commission.
(1) Where it appears to the Board of Trade that it is or may be the fact that conditions to which this Act applies prevail as respects either—
(a ) the supply of goods of any description; or
(b ) the application of any process to goods of any description; or
(c ) exports of goods of any description from the United Kingdom, either generally or to any particular market,
the Board may, if they think fit, refer the matter to the Commission for investigation and report:
Provided that a reference shall not be made under this subsection where the prevalence of the conditions in question is expressly authorised by or under any enactment, other than the enactments relating to patents and trade marks.
(2) Without prejudice to the duties of the Commission where a matter has been referred to them for investigation and report, it shall at all times be the duty of the Commission, at the request of the Board of Trade, to give to the Board any such information and assistance as is in their possession or power in relation to any question connected with conditions to which this Act applies which prevail, are suspected of prevailing or are expected to prevail as respects the supply of goods of any description, as respects the application of any process to goods of any description or as respects exports of goods of any description from the United Kingdom, either generally or to any particular market.
Conditions to which Act applies.
3 Meaning of ‘conditions to which this Act applies’ in relation to supply.
(1) Conditions to which this Act applies shall be deemed for the purposes of this Act to prevail as respects the supply of goods of any description if either—
(a ) at least one-third of all the goods of that description which are supplied in the United Kingdom or any substantial part thereof are supplied by or to any one person, or by or to any two or more persons, being inter-connected bodies corporate, or by or to any such two or more persons as are described in subsection (2) of this section; or
(b ) any agreements or arrangements (whether legally enforceable or not) are in operation the result of which is that, in the United Kingdom or any substantial part thereof, goods of that description are not supplied at all.
(2) The two or more persons referred to in subsection (1) of this section are any two or more persons who, whether voluntarily or not, and whether by agreement or arrangement or not, so conduct their respective affairs as in any way to prevent or restrict competition in connection with the production or supply of goods of the description in question (whether or not they themselves are affected by the competition and whether the competition is between persons interested as suppliers or producers or between persons interested as customers of suppliers or producers):
Provided that in considering whether or not any two or more persons so conduct their affairs as aforesaid, practices as to the workers to be employed or not to be employed by them or as to the remuneration, conditions of employment, hours of work or working conditions of workers, or any class of workers, so employed shall be left out of account.
(3) Where goods of any description are the subject of different forms of supply, the references in the preceding provisions of this section to the supply of the goods (other than the first of those references) shall be construed as references to any of those forms of supply taken separately, to all those forms of supply taken together, or to any of those forms of supply taken in groups, according as the Board of Trade or the Commission, as the case may be, think proper in all the circumstances; and the Board of Trade or the Commission, as the case nay be, may treat goods as being the subject of different forms of supply whenever the transactions in question differ as to their nature, their parties, their terms or their surrounding circumstances, and the difference is one which, in the opinion of the Board or the Commission, as the case may be, ought for the purposes of this section to be treated as a material difference.
4 Meaning of ‘conditions to which this Act applies’ in relation to processing.
(1) Conditions to which this Act applies shall be deemed for the purposes of this Act to prevail as respects the application of any process to goods of any description if either—
(a ) at least one-third of all the goods of that description to which that process is applied in the United Kingdom or any substantial part thereof are subjected to that process by or for any one person, or by or for any two or more persons, being inter-connected bodies corporate, or by or for any such two or more persons as are described in subsection (2) of this section; or
(b ) any agreements or arrangements, whether legally enforceable or not, are in operation the result of which is that, in the United Kingdom or any substantial part thereof, that process is not applied at all to goods of that description.
(2) The two or more persons referred to in subsection (1) of this section are any two or more persons who, whether voluntarily or not, and whether by agreement or arrangement or not, so conduct their respective affairs as in any way to prevent or restrict competition in connection with the application of the process in question to goods of the description in question (whether or not they themselves are affected by the competition and whether the competition is between appliers of the process or between persons for whom the process is applied):
Provided that in considering whether or not any two or more persons so conduct their affairs as aforesaid, practices as to the workers to be employed or not to be employed by them, or as to the remuneration, conditions of employment, hours of work or working conditions of workers, or any class of workers, so employed shall be left out of account.
(3) References in the preceding provisions of this section to the application of any process to any goods do not include references to cases where the process is applied by the owner of the goods or his servants.
5 Meaning of ‘conditions to which this Act applies’ in relation to exports.
(1) Conditions to...
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