: I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time."
The object of this Bill is to confirm the Restrictive Practices (Motor Spirit) Order, 1978 made last week by the Minister for Industry, Commerce and Energy under the Restrictive Practices Act, 1972. This order extends for another year a statutory ban on the operation of company-owned motor spirit stations by oil companies. The order was due to expire shortly.
I have extended the order to allow the Restrictive Practices Commission time to carry out a general review of the various orders made regulating the supply and distribution of motor spirit and motor vehicle lubricating oil and also to allow them to look into certain related issues.
The first inquiry into the trade under the fair trading legislation was in 1960. It was concerned principally with examining the merits of the "solus" system—the system under which a retailer undertakes to handle one brand of motor spirit exclusively. It found that the system had certain merits but needed to be regulated because of its tendency to encourage an excessive number of petrol retail outlets. An order to regulate the system was made by the Minister in 1961 and shortly afterwards the Fair Trade Commission and the petrol companies reached agreement on certain guiding principles designed to limit the increase in outlets.
There was concern throughout the sixties that the guiding principles were not having their intended effect of limiting the number of outlets and that the regulation of the solus system was leading companies to increase the number of directly operated outlets. At the Minister's request, the commission held an inquiry into this growth in outlets in 1970.
In their report, the Restrictive Practices Commission argued that the extension of control by the oil companies over the retail market by means of company-operated stations needed to be curbed in the public interest as they felt that this development would lead to dominance by the oil companies over the retail trade and increase the risk of such restrictive practices as price fixing and market-sharing. An order to halt this development for a three-year trial period was made in 1972. It was reviewed in 1975 by the commission and on their recommendation extended for another three years until the summer of 1978.
Following their 1975 review, the commission had suggested that when next they would review the ban they should also review the orders as a whole. During that review they also received representations on matters relevant to the orders which their terms of reference did not allow them to consider. I have decided that they should be free to consider other matters germane to the orders. I have also decided that they should look into a matter which has been the source of grievance to some people in the trade for a number of years. I am referring to the agreements under which persons who are not the company's employees operate their stations under licence.
In accordance with the Restrictive Practices Act, 1972 I have asked the examiner to transmit my request to the commission to hold an inquiry under the terms of reference that I have mentioned. The extension of the order will give the commission the time needed to do this.
The Restrictive Practices Act, 1972, provides that orders of this kind shall not have effect unless they are confirmed by an Act of the Oireachtas. The Bill now before the Dáil is the confirming Bill which is necessary to give the force of law to the order. The order, however, may not be amended but must be accepted or rejected as it stands.
This is an uncontroversial measure and I have no hesitation in recommending it to the House.
