S.I. No. 371/1982:

EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES (DISTRIBUTION OF IRON AND STEEL PRODUCTS) REGULATIONS, 1982.

EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES (DISTRIBUTION OF IRON AND STEEL PRODUCTS) REGULATIONS, 1982.

I, ALBERT REYNOLDS, Minister for Industry and Energy, in exercise of the powers conferred on me by section 3 of the European Communities Act, 1972 (No. 27 of 1972), and for the purpose of giving effect to Commission Recommendation No. 1835/81ECSC of 3 July 1981¹, as amended by Commission Recommendation No. 1518/82/ECSC of 11 June 1982², hereby make the following Regulations:--

¹OJ No. L184/9, 3.7.1981 p.9.

²OJ No. L169/5, 11.6.1982, p.5.

1. (1) These Regulations may be cited as the European Communities (Distribution of Iron and Steel Products) Regulations, 1982.

(2) These Regulations shall come into operation on the 1st day of January, 1983 and shall expire on the 30th day of June, 1984.

2. (1) In these Regulations:--

"authorised officer" means a person appointed by the Minister to be an authorised officer for the purposes of these Regulations;

"the Minister" means the Minister for Industry and Energy;

"steel dealer" means a distributive undertaking as defined under Article 2 of Commission Recommendation No. 1835/81 ECSC as amended by Article 1, paragraph 2 of the Commission Recommendation No. 1518/82 ECSC;

"the Commission Recommendation" means Commission Recommendation No. 1835/81 ECSC of 3 July 1981, as amended by Commission Recommendation No. 1518/82/ECSC of 11 June 1982.

(2) A word or expression that is used in these Regulations and is also used in the Commission Recommendation shall, unless the contrary intention appears, have in these Regulations the same meaning that it has in the Commission Recommendation.

3. (1) Subject to Article 7 of the Commission Recommendation, a steel dealer shall publish price lists and conditions of sale for direct and ex-stock sales, and any amendments thereto, in accordance with the provisions of the Commission Recommendationa and shall give copies of the price lists to the Minister.

(2) A steel dealer shall not sell or agree to sell or offer for sale or invite an offer to buy any steel unless paragraph (1) of this Regulation has been complied with in relation to that steel and at least two clear days have elapsed since copies of the price lists concerned were given to the Minister.

4. All price lists and conditions of sale published shall contain the following information:

( a ) basic prices according to category of products, or basic prices for each grade and category of products;

( b ) extras which are applied, indicating:

--extras for size and length

--extras for grades and quality

--quantity extras and rebates for each sample and/or for each specified order

--tolerances not liable to surcharge

--extras for reduced tolerances

--also surcharges and increases normally applied in connection with delivery of the various products, particularly surcharges for cutting and slitting

( c ) Place of delivery;

( d ) method of quotation;

( e ) costs in connection with method of shipment;

( f ) where they are applied:

--discounts, rebates, premiums or any other kind of benefits to other dealers or users;

( g ) terms of payment;

( h ) nature and amount of taxes and other charges additional to the prices on the price lists, under the terms offered to purchasers.

5. (1) Subject to paragraph (2) of this Regulation, a steel dealer shall not apply in the common market dissimilar conditions to similar transactions.

(2) Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph (1) of this Regulation, a steel dealer who alleges that his transactions are not comparable or that conditions are not to be considered dissimilar shall at the request of the Minister give to the Minister a statement of the facts and circumstances that, in his opinion, justify these allegations.

6. (1) A steel dealer who aligns his quotation on competitor's prices list shall not apply conditions affording the purchaser a delivered price lower than that at which the purchaser could obtain the goods from that competitor.

(2) A steel dealer who alleges that he has aligned his quotation on a lower delivered price of a competitor in the common market or of a competitor outside the Community shall, at the request of the Minister, give to the Minister a statement of the facts and circumstances that, in his opinion, show that the conditions for alignment obtained and that he has complied with the provisions of paragraphs 1 to 3 of Article 13 of the Commission Recommendation in calculating the aligned price.

7. A steel dealer shall not include in the price charged to the purchaser the amount of any taxes or charges in respect of which the steel dealer is entitled to exemption or drawback.

8. A steel dealer shall, within such reasonable period as the Minister may specify, furnish to the Minister such information as the Minister may reasonably request for the purpose of the enforcement of the Commission Recommendation and these Regulations and otherwise for the purpose of his function under that Recommendation and these Regulations.

9. (1) Subject to paragraph (2) of this Regulation, a steel dealer shall keep trading and accounting records.

(2) Without prejudice to the generality of paragraph (1) of this Regulation, a steel dealer shall keep the documents referred to in subparagraphs (a) to (g) of Article 1 of Commission Decision No. 14/64/EEC of 8 July 1964³.

³OJ 28.7.1964, p. 1967/64.

10. An authorised officer shall be furnished with a certificate of his appointment as an authorised officer and when exercising any power conferred on an authorised officer by these Regulations, shall, requested by any person affected, produce the certificate to that person.

11. (1) An authorised officer may, for the purposes of these Regulations and the Commission Recommendation--

( a ) at any reasonable time enter any premises where he reasonably believes that the business of a steel dealer is being carried on,

( b ) request the person in charge of the premises to produce for inspection by him the records kept by him pursuant to these Regulations,

( c ) inspect and take copies of or extracts from such records.

(2) A person who obstructs or interferes with an authorised officer when he is exercising a power conferred by this Regulation or fails to comply with a request under paragraph (1) (b) of this Regulation shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £400.

12. A person who contravenes these Regulations (other than Regulation 11) or the Commission Recommendation shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £800, or, at the discretion of the court, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or to both such fine and such imprisonment and, where a contravention of these Regulations (other than the said Regulation 11) or the Commission Recommendation by a person continues for more than one day, the person shall be guilty of a separate offence for each day or part of a day on which the contravention continues.

13. An offence under these Regulations may be prosecuted by the Minister.

14. Where an offence under these Regulations is committed by a body corporate and the offence is proved to have been committed with the consent or connivance of, or to have been attributable to any neglect on the part of, any person who, when the offence was committed, was a director, member of the committee of management or other controlling authority of the body concerned, or the manager, secretary or other officer of the body, that person shall also be deemed to have committed the offence and may be prosecuted against and punished accordingly.

GIVEN under my Official Seal this 13th day of December, 1982.

ALBERT REYNOLDS,

Minister for Industry and Energy

EXPLANATORY NOTE.

These Regulations implement Commission Recommendation No. 1835/81/ECSC as amended by Commission Recommendation No. 1518/82/ECSC. The Regulations provide for an obligation on distributive undertakings in the steel trade to publish price lists and conditions of sale and to refrain from prohibited trading practices. The Regulations are in accordance with Section 3 of the European Communities Act, 1972 and take effect from 1 January, 1983 for a period of one and half years until 30 June, 1984.