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Companies Bill [Lords]

Briefly, we take the same view as we did on the previous group of amendments. In principle, we favour the Government view on extending the permission—it is only a permission, not a duty—to disclose information in civil proceedings abroad in favour of consumers, rather than just litigants in intellectual property disputes. That strikes us as right in principle. The hon. Member for Huntingdon (Mr. Djanogly) has a point about the importance of proper consultation on the detail of any regulations, but we accept that the result of such consultation will be very similar to the consultation undertaken over the summer on these very provisions. We take the Government’s rather than the Conservatives’ view on that.