Price Commission Amendment Passes In House
The Price Commission Amendment Act 2017 passed in the House of Assembly with bipartisan support on Friday evening [Dec 8], with the Bill seeking to change the Commission to the “Cost of Living Commission”, with an aim to focus on cost of living matters.
The Bill’s Explanatory Memorandum said, ”This Bill amends the Price Commission Act 1974 so as to change the title of the Act and the title of the Price Control Commission, and to update some of the penalties under the Act.
“The change in the title of the Act and the title of the Commission is necessitated by the fact that matters of price control are to a greater extent being dealt with by the Regulatory Authority. The Commission’s main objective is now focussed on matters of cost of living.
“The amendments to sections 6 and 10 of the Act to update the penalties are necessitated by the fact that, as those penalties have not been updated since the Act came into operation in 1974, they are now not commensurate with the original value of the penalties and are no longer deterrent.
“The penalties being updated are under sections of the Act that relate to obtaining information for purposes of the Act. These sections provide for powers the Commission is to now frequently rely on to achieve the new focus of their objectives. ”
This was one of a few Bills that MPs approved on Friday, with the Health Insurance Amendment Act 2017, the Misuse of Drugs [Decriminalisation of Cannabis] Amendment Act 2017 , the Domestic Partnerships Act 2017 and the Casino Gaming Amendment Bill 2017 also approved by MPs.
The Price Commission Amendment 2017 follows below [PDF here]
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Messing with this stuff will not end well.Price controls NEVER work. They sound like a good solution to left wingers and liberals but they simply end up creating a nightmare.
Ask any economist, price controls do not work as a matter of economic theory or commercial interest. They may placate the electorate, but at the cost of reduced economic stimulus.
In fairness to the Bermuda Government, it is not the only government in the world to fail to grasp this simple economic reality.