Department of Trade and Industry

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For other uses, see Department of Trade and Industry (disambiguation).

Logo of the DTI

The Department of Trade and Industry was a United Kingdom government department which was disbanded with the announcement of the creation of the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform and the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills on 28 June 2007 [1].

The department was first formed in 1970 with the merger of the Board of Trade and the Ministry of Technology, creating a new cabinet post of Secretary of State for Trade and Industry. The new department also took over the Department of Employment's former responsibilities for monopolies and mergers. In January of 1974, the department's responsibilities for energy production were transferred to a newly created UK Department of Energy. Later the same year, following a Labour Party victory in the general election, the department was split into Department of Trade, Department of Industry and the Department of Prices and Consumer Protection.

In 1983 the departments of Trade and Industry were reunited. The Department of Energy was re-merged back into the DTI in 1992, but various media-related functions transferred to the Department for National Heritage. Until it was disbanded in June 2007 the DTI continued to set the energy policy of the United Kingdom.

After the 2005 general election the DTI was renamed to the Department for Productivity, Energy and Industry [2], but the name reverted to Department of Trade and Industry less than a week later [3], after widespread derision, including some from the Confederation of British Industry.

The Channel 4 programme Despatches: The Mobile Phone rip-off, broadcast on April 28 2008 reported that the DTI was in cahoots with the mobile phone industry in blocking the EU legislation for the capping of mobile phone roaming charges.

The DTI had a wide range of responsibilities. There were ultimately nine main areas covered by the DTI: Company Law, Trade, Business Growth, Innovation, Employment Law, Regional Economic Development, Energy, Science, and Consumer Law.

UK Trade and Investment [4]was a joint DTI/Foreign & Commonwealth organisation to help UK companies do business abroad and assist overseas investors to the UK.