Part of Enterprise Bill – in a Public Bill Committee am 5:00 pm ar 30 Ebrill 2002.
Miss Melanie Johnson
Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department of Trade and Industry
5:00,
30 Ebrill 2002
That will depend on the circumstance of the case. That balance should not be disregarded; it must be weighed up when considering substantial lessening of competition. The circumstances described are ones in which that issue will have to be examined, but it will vary from situation to situation. That is shown in the examples that I gave and we could construct many examples, under each main heading.
The competition authorities will have to examine that balance as they go through each case. They will also have to examine the economic significance of customer benefits and the competition issues that arise. The core of our response is to ensure that we get the balance right. Competition can be balanced in the context given, but only in the way that we have set out in the Bill.
Question put and agreed to.
Clause 28 ordered to stand part of the Bill.
A parliamentary bill is divided into sections called clauses.
Printed in the margin next to each clause is a brief explanatory `side-note' giving details of what the effect of the clause will be.
During the committee stage of a bill, MPs examine these clauses in detail and may introduce new clauses of their own or table amendments to the existing clauses.
When a bill becomes an Act of Parliament, clauses become known as sections.
