The object of this Bill is to confirm the Restrictive Practices (Motor Spirit) (No. 2) Order, 1980 which I made on 11 December 1980 under the Restrictive Practices Act, 1972.
This order extends for a further two months the currency of a statutory ban created by the Restrictive Practices (Motor Spirit) Order, 1972 on the operation of new company owned motor spirit stations by oil companies. That order, as amended, is due to expire on 18 January 1981.
Because of concern throughout the sixties at the growth of the number of retail outlets directly operated by the petrol companies the then Minister requested the Fair Trade Commission in 1970 to hold an inquiry into the growth in the number of such outlets.
The Restrictive Practices Commission, in their report of that inquiry, argued that the growth of the control by the oil companies over the retail market needed to be halted for a time in the public interest as it felt that this development would lead to dominance over the retail trade by the petrol companies and increase the risk of such restrictive practices as price fixing and market sharing. An order made in 1972 halted this development for three years. The order was reviewed by the commission in 1975 and on their recommendation it was extended for another three years until the summer of 1978.
In their report of the 1975 review the Restrictive Practices Commission recommended that they should review the operation of the relevant orders as a whole before the expiry date in 1978. I, therefore, requested the commission in March 1978 to hold an inquiry into the operation of the current Restrictive Practices (Motor Spirit) Orders, into any matters germane to the operation of these orders and also into the conditions which obtain in regard to agreements under which petrol stations, which are company owned but not company run, are operated. This latter aspect was included in the commission's terms of reference because of concern that the agreements in question were unfair to the operator.
To enable the inquiry to be held and pending examination of the report and decisions on the commission's recommendations I extended the ban for two and a half years to 18 January 1981 by means of orders made in 1978, 1979 and 1980.
I received the commission's report some months ago. I had hoped to have had an Order made implementing those of the recommendations in the report which I accept and to have had a confirming Bill before the House before the expiry of the current prohibition. However, because of the complexity of the Order I propose to make and the necessity for careful drafting some further time will be required to finalise this lengthy Order which, I should add, will also consolidate all relevant legislation. I have accordingly extended the currency of the statutory ban on the operation of new company owned motor spirit stations for a further two months to 18 March 1981.
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 House is the confirming Bill which is necessary to give 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 Seanad.
