Clause 179 - Cartel offence
Enterprise Bill
10:30 am
Miss Melanie Johnson (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department of Trade and Industry; Welwyn Hatfield, Labour)
The amendment would defer the coming into force of the cartel offence until three years after the proposals for the modernisation of European Commission law are finalised and brought into force. We do not know when those proposals will be completed and brought into force, and in the meantime there is no reason to delay the introduction of the cartel criminal offence against the individual.
The criminal offence is separate from, but compatible with, the EC civil regime. The United Kingdom criminal offence targets individuals, while the EC civil regime covers broader competition breaches committed by undertakings. The proposals for the modernisation of the EC regime are not yet finalised. As the negotiations continue progress, we will focus on avoiding any possible conflict with the new offence. In its response to last year's White Paper, the Commission said that modernisation did not preclude criminalisation. There is no inconsistency between EC law, modernisation and the proposed
criminal offence. The offence is being introduced to tackle serious criminal activity, and there is no reason to delay it by awaiting the outcome of the continuing modernisation negotiations. I therefore ask the hon. Gentleman to withdraw the amendment. If he does not, I regret that I shall ask the Committee to oppose it.