EU - Competition Law & Shipping
Steamship Mutual
Published: February 01, 2010
The maritime transport industry has been one of the last economic sectors to face the application of EC anti-trust rules which aim to promote the fair process of competition and catch cartel-like anti-competitive behaviour and activities. It is often said that the shipping industry has enjoyed a “special treatment” from both governments and national competition authorities, often justified through the industry’s importance for international trade and the world economy. The maritime transport industry is highly specialised, but can broadly be separated into two types of shipping services: tramp and liner services. It is in the latter sector, liner-shipping, that conferences have lived and survived until the repeal of Council Regulation 4056/86 (which granted a block exemption) through Regulation 1419/2006[1], which came into effect in October 2008. The reform process aims to bring competition within the shipping industry in line with other sectors. The reform continued with the publication of the Commission’s Guidelines on the Application of Article 81 (EC) to the Maritime Transport[2] (the ‘Guidelines’) in July 2008, as a means of providing guidance to all market participants on how compliance with Article 81 can be ensured in both liner and tramp sectors. This is the European Commission’s final word and shipowners and other participants have no option but to comply with these rules.
The consequences of the repeal of the "Block Exemption" Regulation 4056/86 are that carriers have lost the safe-harbour that it provided. This means that, on the one hand, shipping companies must be on constant guard to avoid infringing competition rules such as entering into practices that are incompatible with EC competition law. On the other hand, the Commission has recognised the need for open discussions between itself and the market participants in order to ensure a smooth transition to a fully competitive regime.
For further details of the new regime the full article can be viewed and downloaded below.
[1] Council Regulation 1419/2006 of 25/09/06, OJL264
[2] OJ/C/245/26.09.08, p.2-14
