Singapore issues block exemption order

Singapore issues block exemption order    Singapore’s Ministry for Trade and Industry Friday issued a block exemption order for liner shipping agreements based on recommendations given by the Competition Commission of Singapore (CCS).
   The CCS put forward its plans in April, under which agreements and conferences will be entitled to block exemption if they fulfill certain conditions, such as allowing member liner operators to offer their own service arrangements on a confidential basis. Where the members of a liner shipping agreement collectively hold more than 50 percent market share in any market operated under the agreement, they will have to publish rates and file other information. The duration of the block exemption order, which will take effect retrospectively from Jan. 1, is five years.
   Asian Shipper groups including the Singapore National Shippers Council and the Asian Shippers’ Council have been fighting the order since the CCS made its proposals. “CCS’s decision to grant the block exemption order to liner shipping agreements is not in keeping with this free trade spirit which Singapore advocates. This will send a wrong message to Asia and the world, which perceive Singapore as a stout defender of the free market,” the two shipper groups said in a joint statement.
   Commenting on its decision to issue the block exemption order, the Ministry for Trade and Industry said: “It would help to maintain Singapore’s position as a premier international maritime center and ensure that businesses in Singapore will continue to have access to reliable and competitively priced liner shipping services of adequate frequency.”