U.S. URGES CHINA TO DROP PROPOSED SHIPPING REGULATIONS

U.S. URGES CHINA TO DROP PROPOSED SHIPPING REGULATIONS    The U.S. government has urged China to drop proposed regulations that would give the Chinese government authority to approve international ocean shipping rates and to require that service contracts be made public.
   Maritime administrator Clyde Hart, in a letter to China’s vice minister of communications Hong Shanxiang, said the proposed regulations “represent an unprecedented attempt” by the Chinese government “to control the practices and activities of commercial parties that collectively make up the international shipping market.”
   Hart also reminded China that opposition to its proposed shipping regulations is widespread, including the governments of the European Union and Japan.
      The regulations, which would require tariff filing, rate approvals and public service contracts, would clash with China’s major trading nations, which have moved from a regulated environment to a free market system, Hart said. “These regulations would restrict market access and competition.”
   New regulations “should state unambiguously that the government of China will not interfere in the market for shipping services between carriers and shippers, including in particular the negotiation of freight rates and all commercial terms and conditions,” Hart said. “The regulations should also authorize the practice of private service contracting that is widely used in Europe, the Americas and in Asia as well.”