MARITIME TRANSPORT : COMMISSION WILL NOT PROLONG ANTI-TRUST GUIDELINES.

The European Commission announced, on 19 February, that it had decided not to prolong or renew the specific guidelines on the application of EU anti-trust rules to maritime transport services, adopted in July 2008, which apply until 26 September 2013.

The general aim of these guidelines was to clarify the compatibility with competition rules of cooperation agreements amongst the numerous competing carriers in this sector. Specifically, these rules aimed to facilitate the transition from a specific to a general competition regime for maritime transport after the repeal, in 2006, of an exemption from anti-trust rules for liner conferences, ie agreements between liner shipping companies on prices and other conditions of carriage. Following the completion of the transition, the guidelines would become obsolete, as was...