against the public interest’ unless they could be justified
in one of a number of ways (e.g. benefiting consumers, employment, exports).
Further extensions to the Act in 1968 (to cover ‘information agreements’) and in 1973
(to cover services) were ultimately consolidated in the Restrictive Trade Practices Act
1976. This new Act vested the responsibility for bringing restrictive practices before the
court in the recently established Director General of Fair Trading (see below). A further extension of legislative control came with the passage of the Monopolies and