CARRIER, SHIPPER COMMENTS SOUGHT ON CANADIAN ANTITRUST REVIEW

   Ocean carriers, shippers and interested parties are expected to submit
comments by the end of the month on a review of Canada’s Shipping
Conferences Exemption Act that threatens the long-term antitrust immunity of shipping lines in Canada.
   Transport Canada, Canada’s department of transportation, has published a consultation paper which calls for a radical review of the country’s antitrust immunity regulations.
   Following the adoption of the U.S. Ocean Shipping Reform Act, the
Canadian administration proposed a reform to allow confidential contracts, shorten the number of days required for carriers’ independent actions and simplify tariff filing.
   "We should be on a fairly equal footing with the U.S.," said Walter
Mueller, general secretary of the Canadian Shippers’ Council, based in
Montreal.
   The Canadian Shippers’ Council, which has called for a reform for years, has welcomed the proposals. Shipping lines’ conferences are opposed.
   The government proposed to adopt a controversial sunset clause, under which the act and its antitrust immunity would be ended in 10 years’ time.
   "We will be the first country to send a notice that the antitrust
immunity will be dead," Mueller said.
   A new legislation is not expected to be adopted before the beginning of next year.
   The current Shipping Conferences Exemption Act was adopted in 1987, three years after the 1984 U.S. Shipping Act.