Explanatory note

This Order brings into operation certain provisions of the Competition Act 1980.

The provisions relating to the abolition of the Price Commission (section 1 and Schedule 1 and—with certain exceptions mentioned below—Schedule 2) and those relating to the reference of public bodies and certain other persons to the Monopolies and Mergers Commission (section 11 and the other provisions specified in Part I of Schedule 1 to the Order) come into operation on 4th April 1980.

The provisions (specified in Part II of that Schedule) relating to orders following reports of the Monopolies and Mergers Commission on references under section 11, those relating to the investigation of prices, to patents and to agricultural schemes and provisions connected with all those matters, and the provisions amending the Fair Trading Act 1973 and the Restrictive Trade Practices Act 1976, come into operation on 1st May 1980.

Part III of Schedule 1 to the Order specifies certain provisions of the enactments (subject to repeal by Schedule 2 to the 1980 Act) which relate to restrictions on the disclosure of information obtained by the Price Commission (in particular, paragraph 4 of Schedule 4 to the Counter-Inflation Act 1973). By virtue of the 1980 Act documents containing the information in question become public records and fall to be treated in accordance with the Public Records Acts. While it is expedient to maintain the restrictions on disclosure mentioned above this must not be longer than necessary to enable the information to be disclosed to the public after the normal thirty-year period under those Acts. The Order provides accordingly that the repeal of the specified provisions will not come into operation until 1st January 2011.

Schedule 2 to the Order provides (in pursuance of section 33(6) of the 1980 Act) for certain savings with respect to the repeals made by the Act.