Price Commission Act 1977

5 Proposals to investigate prices or margins

(1) If the Commission consider that—

(a) a price for an increase of which no notice is required in pursuance of section 5 of the 1973 Act and which is not a price of a distributor of goods and which includes an increase made after 31st May 1977; or

(b) the margin of a distributor of goods,

should be the subject of an investigation in pursuance of the following section, the Commission may notify the Secretary of State in writing that in the opinion of the Commission the price or margin should be the subject of such an investigation.

(2) Where the Commission give a notification to the Secretary of State in pursuance of the preceding subsection in respect of a price or margin it shall be the duty of the Commission to give a copy of the notification immediately to the person who charges the price or to the distributor of goods to whom the margin relates (hereafter in this Act referred to, in relation to the price or margin, as " the relevant person ").

(3) Where a copy of a notification in respect of a price is given to the relevant person in pursuance of the preceding subsection, then, subject to subsections (4) and (5) of this section and section 7(1) of this Act—

(a) during the period of three months beginning with the date when the notification was given to the Secretary of State the relevant person shall not increase the amount of the price above the amount of it at the time when the copy of the notification was given to him or, if at that time he has quoted a higher amount as the amount of the price, shall not increase the amount of it above that higher amount; and

(b) if he does so he shall be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine of an amount not exceeding £1,000 or, on conviction on indictment, to a fine;

and for the purposes of this subsection a person has at a particular time quoted an amount as the amount of a price if before that time he has given notice, by display, advertisement, circular or other public notice, of his intention to do business at a price of that amount before the expiration of the period of twenty-eight days beginning with that time.

(4) Subsection (5) of the preceding section shall have effect in relation to a notification in respect of a price in pursuance of this section as it has effect in relation to a notification in respect of an increase in pursuance of that section but as if for the words from " whole " to " section " in paragraph (a) there were substituted the words " price ought to be increased " and for any other reference to the increase there were substituted a reference to the price; and subsection (6) of the preceding section shall have effect, in relation to subsection (5) of that section as applied by this subsection, as if—

(a) for the words " part of the increase " and " subsection (2)(b) of this section " in paragraph (a) and the words " subsection (2)(b) of this section shall cease to apply to the increase " in paragraph (b) there were substituted respectively the words " increase in the price " and "section 5(3) of this Act" and "section 5(3) of this Act shall cease to apply to the price "; and

(b) the words following paragraph (b) were omitted.

(5) If the Secretary of State considers that a price or margin in respect of which he has received a notification in pursuance of subsection (1) of this section should not be the subject of an investigation in pursuance of the following section he may, whether or not such an investigation of the price or margin has begun, give notice to the Commission and the relevant person providing that the price or margin shall not be the subject of such an investigation; and if the notice relates to a price subsections (3) and (4) of this section shall cease to apply to the price when the relevant person receives the notice.

(6) Regulations may make provision—

(a) as to the persons who for the purposes of this Act are distributors of goods ; and

(b) as to what for those purposes are margins and prices of such distributors ; and

(c) as to what for the purposes of subsection (1)(a) of this section is an increase made after the date there mentioned;

and in this section and the two following sections " price" includes charge.