"Do, Not Outlaw Price Maintenance"
Page 33
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
QCHEMES for collective resale price 1,--7 maintenance should not be made illegal. This suggestion has been made to the President of the Board of Trade by the National Tyre Distributors' Association, in connection with proposed legislation based on the report of the Monopolies and Restrictive Practices Commission on collective discrimination.
The Association thought that manufacturers ought to fix their prices in competition with one another. Distributors' associations were not concerned with manufacturers' price-fixing, but the maintenance of Margins. Once resale prices had been fixed, it was to • everyone's advantage that they should be adhered to along the channel of distribution. This ensured fair dealings and stability of employment, and prevented overcharging.
Margins 'in the tyre trade were modest and it was necessary to protect them because the business involved giving public service. Questions of public safety arose, which made expert service a necessity, If collective resale price maintenance were blatantly against the public interest, it would be impossible to persuade 27,000 tyre traders to support it.
The Association suggested the formation of a judicial tribunal to deal with such matters, as the Association of British Chambers of Commerce have done (see next column). The tribunal should not be allowed to ban an agreement unless there were proof that prices were being kept unnecessarily high. •