London Olympic Games and Paralympic Games Bill

My Lords, my name is attached to this amendment and I support it. The noble Lord, Lord Glentoran, stated the main purpose of postponing the operation of the association right to 1 January, and those arguments were elaborated upon by the noble Lord, Lord Clement-Jones. It seems to me that if, as the Bill stands, the association right—and the exclusivity that goes with it—comes into operation on Royal Assent, it will have a total of six and a half years in which to operate before the start of the London Olympic Games, and that is unprecedented. It was not so at Sydney and it was not so at any other previous Olympic Games. It is an example of the exaggerated way in which the Government—certainly at the beginning of our discussions on this legislation and, more importantly, in the discussions that took place between the Minister and others—have felt that they have had to dot every ““i”” and cross every ““t”” and do not only what the IOC has asked of them but something in addition to prove that we are worthy of this splendid opportunity of the London games. In the fullness of time and in view of the debates that we have had at Second Reading, in Grand Committee and again today, I ask the Minister to think about this carefully. He knows that there is no precision about what will infringe the association rights and what will not. He and his officials have been most helpful in showing some of us the drafts of guidance notes. I recall, when looking at them, that they were extremely extensive. Almost inevitably, they raised nearly as many questions as they answered because there is such a variety of ways in which the association rights could be breached. At the very least, I ask the Minister to think about this, between now and eight months’ time—1 January 2007—when we shall probably see those guidance notes in their final form and, more importantly, so will the advertising industry and they will then know what they can and cannot do. If the breach can, in theory, be operative from a date in June or July when the Bill receives Royal Assent, you are asking a large number of professional, advertising industry people to try to judge without that guidance whether they can do this or cannot do that. I do not think that is right. The Minister has recognised that there are some grey areas, as the noble Lord, Lord Clement-Jones, put it a moment ago. It would be fairly simple and not a major concession for the Government to agree to this amendment.