Original scientific paper
Competition law of the European community and liner conferences
Božena Bulum
orcid.org/0000-0003-4606-9815
; Jadranski zavod HAZU, Zagreb, Hrvatska
Abstract
Liner shipping conferences have historically been granted some form of exemption or immunity from the competition rules in many jurisdictions. In the European Union, the Council of ministers agreed on rules, in 1986, which exempt price-fixing and capacity regulation, under certain strict conditions, from Articles 81 and 82 of the EC Treaty. The justification for the Liner Conference Block Exemption Regulation 4056/86 was the assumption that rate-setting and other activities of liner conferences lead to stable fright rates, which in turn assured shippers of reliable scheduled maritime transport services. However, this immunity has been subject to review in several part
of the world, including European Union. The Commission’s proposal to repeal the block exemption for liner conferences was the result of three year investigation by Commission during which extensive consultations with carriers and transport users took place. In September 2006 Council of ministers adopted Commissionʼs proposal to repeal the exemption from the EC Treatyʼs ban on restrictive business practices (Article 81) for liner conferences on routes to and from EU. The repeal will enter into force in October 2008. The Council also empowered the Commission to apply EC Treaty competition rules to cabotage and tramp shipping, by extending the scope of the competition implementing rules of Regulation 1/2003. In order to ease the transition to a fully competitive regime, the Commission will issue Guidelines on the application of the competition rules to maritime transport services, in consultation with all stakeholders. The paper analyses the reasons of the recent changes of the competition substantive-law regulations and competition implementing-law regulations regarding liner conferences agreements, cabotage and tramp shipping services. The different proposals and arguments of the stakeholders are being taken into consideration in a critical manner.
Keywords
liner shipping conferences; competition law; block exemption; price-fixing; capacity regulation; stable fright rates; reliable maritime transport services; cabotage; tramp shipping; European Union;
Hrčak ID:
16604
URI
Publication date:
1.8.2007.
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