My Lords, I am grateful to the Minister for saying that he will look at the situation again. I want to clarify my position: I agree that the “dishonestly” threshold should go. We need to make sure that we do this in a robust way and that is what these legal opinions suggest we should have another look at. However, my understanding is that the second part was not debated in another place and that the Bill effectively says that, if you can prove that you have been transparent, the cartel may not exist. That seems odd. If it simply said, “If you have told your suppliers or customers that this is the way that you and your alleged competitors are dealing with it”, that would perhaps be some mitigation, but it cannot be an absolute defence. It cannot be, as the Bill says,
“Circumstances in which cartel offence not committed”.
I think that this is wrongheaded thinking and should come out entirely. However, if the Minister is looking at all this again, I am quite happy to wait and see what he and his colleagues in the department come up with on this clause. I beg leave to withdraw the amendment.