The secretary of state for trade and industry, Patricia Hewitt, has made it clear that promoting enterprise will be one of her top priorities. The inclusion of this bill in the Queen's speech appears to reaffirm that commitment.

Writing for ePolitix.com on the day of publication of the bill, Hewitt set out the goals of this much-anticipated legislation:

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"Our goal is to make the UK the best place in the world to do business. The Enterprise Bill is a major step towards achieving this. It will put in place a modern framework of pro-enterprise measures to drive up productivity in the UK benefiting business and consumers.

"The 1998 Competition Act laid the foundations of a modern competition regime. Now more needs to be done - mergers and monopoly provisions were not reformed by that Act and are hopelessly outdated."Monopolistic behaviour costs the UK from 0.5 - 1 per cent of GDP (around £4.5 billion - £9 billion per annum)[1]. By ensuring regulation promotes strong competition in the UK, we will improve productivity and living standards and make the UK more competitive internationally.

"According to the British Chambers of Commerce, 'Fair competition is an essential ingredient of a healthy and productive economy and we should not settle for second best.'

"The new merger regime and arrangements for market-wide investigations will be more transparent, predictable and efficient. Competition authorities will be able to make decisions without reference to Ministers, giving business more certainty.

"The Competition Commission and the OFT will be more open and accountable. They will publish guidance on the operation of mergers and markets regimes and reasons for their decisions in individual cases. The OFT will have a set timetable to respond to "super- complaints" about markets from designated consumer bodies. The Competition Commission will also publish provisional conclusions part way through their enquiries to allow for more discussion of possible solutions to competition problems.

"Hard core cartels - such as price-fixing and market sharing - push up prices and protect the inefficient. Those operating cartels are guilty of theft and should face serious penalties. The threat of imprisonment of up to five years should deter individuals from operating cartels and the Competition Act already imposes civil penalties on firms who engage in anti-competitive activity. The strength of this measure should be in its preventative effects and I hope that the impact on behaviour will be significant.

"OFT estimate [2] consumer detriment - losses from defective goods, inadequate redress or poor information - at £8.3 billion a year. The consumer protection measures in the Bill will help address this.

"The Enterprise Bill will enable enforcement authorities to take speedy action against traders who cheat consumers. This will also ensure that honest traders do not face unfair competition from rogues.

"For good entrepreneurs to flourish, we need modern corporate and personal insolvency regimes. The corporate insolvency law reform will restrict the use of Administrative Receivership, which tends to serve one creditor above all others, and ft the balance in favour of administration. This takes account of the interests of all creditors - secured and unsecured. We will also streamline the administrative procedure, making it quicker, fairer and easier to use.

"A modernised, better targeted bankruptcy regime will encourage business start-ups and give a fresh start for bankrupts who are not reckless, irresponsible or dishonest. Those who have failed through no fault of their own will be discharged from their debts and released from restrictions after a maximum of 12 months.

"But those bankrupts who abuse their creditors and the public will be subject to a new Bankruptcy Restrictions Order, from between two and fifteen years.

"We will abolish the Crown's right to recover unpaid taxes before other creditors - helping unsecured creditors, including small businesses. We will improve the investment return on insolvent estates also benefiting creditors. These measures will free up to £110 million a year for creditors.

"The Enterprise Bill will improve our competition, consumer protection and insolvency regulations to support productivity and efficiency. The reforms will be good for consumers, good for business and good for prosperity."

Footnotes

[1] "The social costs of monopoly power", K Cowling and D Mueller, Economic Journal 1978, pp 727 -748.

[2] "Consumer Detriment", OFT report February 2000.

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The Bill is divided into eleven parts and has 269 clauses and 26 SchedulesPart 1: Office of Fair Trading - establishes the Office of Fair Trading (OFT), sets out its general functions, and provides for arrangements for making super-complaints to the OFT.

Part 2: Competition Appeal Tribunal - establishes and makes provisions for proceedings before the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT).

Part 3: Mergers - provides for a new merger regime, covering the definition of a qualifying merger, the duty of the OFT to make references to the Competition Commission (CC); how references are determined; the procedures that relate to certain public interest cases and other special cases; powers of enforcement; undertakings and orders; and various supplementary matters, such as information and publicity requirements and powers to require information.

Part 4: Market Investigations (OFT and CC) - makes provision for new market investigations arrangements. It sets out the power of the OFT and the Secretary of State to make references to the CC, and how the CC should report on the references. It provides for particular arrangements to Bill 115-EN] 53/1 apply in public interest cases, and also covers powers of enforcement and various supplementary matters.

Part 5: The Competition Service and CC- establishes the Competition Service, and provides for rules of procedure for the CC.

Part 6: Cartel Offence - deals with the creation of a cartel offence.

Part 7: Miscellaneous Competition Provisions - deals with a number of miscellaneous competition provisions, including powers to disqualify directors who engage in serious competition breaches.

Part 8: Enforcement of Certain Consumer Legislation - deals with new procedures for enforcing certain consumer legislation, and miscellaneous related matters.

Part 9: Information - provides for rules to govern the disclosure of certain consumer and competition information held by a public authority, covering the circumstances in which it is permissible to disclose the information, and various related matters.

Part 10: Insolvency (new administration regime) - changes insolvency law by providing for a new regime for company administration and restricting the future use of administrative receivership; abolishing Crown preference; establishing a new regime for the insolvency of individuals; and making changes to the operation of the Insolvency Services Account.

Part 11: Supplementary Provisions - contains a number of supplementary provisions, such as commencement, short title and territorial extent.

The Bill implements a pledge in the government's 2001 election manifesto to give more independence to the competition authorities, to reform the bankruptcy laws and to tackle trading practices that harm consumers.

The White Paper 'Productivity in the UK: Enterprise and the Productivity Challenge', published in June 2001, set out the government's intention to focus on enterprise and productivity as the cornerstone of its economic reforms in this Parliament.

House of Commons

First reading: March 26 2002 (HC Bill 115)

Second reading: April 10 2002

Standing Committee B (to end by May 14 2002)

• 1st sitting: April 16 2002 (am)
• 2nd sitting: April 16 2002 (pm)
• 3rd sitting: April 18 2002 (am)
• 4th sitting: April 18 2002 (pm)
• 5th sitting: April 23 2002 (am)
• 6th sitting: April 23 2002 (pm) (part 1)(part 2)
• 7th sitting: April 25 2002 (am)
• 8th sitting: April 25 2002 (pm)
• 9th sitting: April 30 2002 (pm)
• 10th sitting: May 1 2002 (am)
• 11th sitting: May 1 2002 (pm)
• 12th sitting: May 7 2002 (am)
• 13th sitting: May 7 2002 (pm)
• 14th sitting: May 9 2002 (am)
• 15th sitting: May 9 2002 (pm)
• 16th sitting: May 14 2002 (am)
• 17th sitting: May 14 2002 (pm)
• 18th sitting: May 16 2002 (am)
• The bill as amended in committee: HC Bill 138

Remaining Stages:

• 1st day: June 13 2002
• 2nd day: June 17 2002

House of Lords

First reading: June 19 2002 HL Bill 92

Second reading: July 2 2002

Committee:

• 1st day: July 16 2002
• 2nd day: July 18 2002
• 3rd day: July 22 2002
• 4th day: July 29 2002
• 5th day: July 30 2002
• The bill as amended in committee: HL Bill 112

Report stage:

• 1st day: October 15 2002
• 2nd day: October 21 2002
• The bill as amended on report: HL Bill 116

Third reading: October 28 2002

House of Commons

Consideration of Lords amendments: October 29 2002

House of Lords

Consideration of Commons amendments and reasons: November 4 2002.

House of Commons

Consideration of Lords reasons: November 5 2002

House of Lords

Consideration of Commons reasons: November 6 2002

Royal Assent: November 7 2002