Channel Tunnel Rail Link Act 1996

23 Restrictive trade practices

(1) The [1976 c. 34.] Restrictive Trade Practices Act 1976 (“the 1976 Act”) shall not apply to any development agreement and shall be deemed never to have applied to any such agreement.

(2) Where two or more persons are specified under section 34 below as the nominated undertaker for the same purpose of the same provision, the Secretary of State may by order provide that the persons so specified and any body corporate which is a member of the same group as any of them shall be deemed to be members of one and the same group of interconnected bodies corporate for the purposes of the 1976 Act in relation to any scheduled works agreement.

(3) Section 24 of the 1976 Act (time limit for registering particulars of agreements subject to registration) shall apply in relation to an agreement which becomes subject to registration under that Act by virtue of the revocation of an order under subsection (2) above as it applies in relation to an agreement which becomes subject to registration under that Act by virtue of the expiry or revocation of an order under section 29 of that Act (power to exempt agreements of importance to the national economy from registration).

(4) The Secretary of State may, in relation to a scheduled works agreement, make an order under section 29 of the 1976 Act after, as well as on or before, the conclusion of the agreement; and, on the coming into force of an order made by virtue of this subsection, that Act shall be deemed not to have applied to the agreement concerned.

(5) Before making an order under section 29 of the 1976 Act in relation to a scheduled works agreement, the Secretary of State shall consult the Director General of Fair Trading.

(6) Section 29(2) of the 1976 Act (conditions which the Secretary of State must be satisfied are met before approving an agreement) shall have effect, in relation to a scheduled works agreement, with the substitution for paragraph (b) of—

“(b) that its object or main object is the facilitation of the design, construction, financing, maintenance or operation of any of the scheduled works within the meaning of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link Act 1996;”.

(7) Without prejudice to the powers of revocation conferred by subsection (5) of section 29 of the 1976 Act, the Secretary of State may at any time by order revoke an order made under that section in relation to a scheduled works agreement if—

(a) he is requested to do so by a party to the agreement, and

(b) he has given to each of the parties to the agreement at least 28 days' notice of his intention to make the order.

(8) Where the Secretary of State approves a scheduled works agreement for the purposes of section 29 of the 1976 Act, he may by order provide that, in relation to any agreement made in pursuance of the approved agreement which is of a class specified in the order, such of the parties to the approved agreement as may be so specified and any body corporate which is a member of the same group as any of them shall be deemed to be interconnected bodies corporate for the purposes of that Act.