Carriers urge EC not to rush into antitrust reform

Carriers urge EC not to rush into antitrust reform    The European Liner Affairs Association (ELAA), which represents liner shipping companies in Brussels, said Thursday the European Commission should not rush into a reform of ocean carriers' antitrust pricing immunity in Europe.
   “The ELAA is warning against any moves to repeal Regulation 4056/86 before the viability of alternative regulatory systems has been assessed,” the carrier group said one day after the EC published a white paper proposal calling for the repeal of the pricing immunity.
   Ken Bloch Soerensen, executive director of the ELAA, said such moves could lead to “serious disruptions” and could negatively affect the stability of supply in the market.
   The European Shippers’ Councils, by contrast, has urged the EC to remove the carriers’ immunity without delay.
   The EC commenced its review of the conference immunity in March 2003, and has since worked on a fairly rapid schedule.
   In its white paper published Wednesday, the EC proposed a two-pronged action: to consider the repeal of liner conferences' exemption, and to examine a potential new “instrument” to replace Regulation 4056/86. The paper also ruled out replacing an immunity for conference by one for discussion agreements, saying such agreements normally involve the exchange of sensitive business information between competitors.
   The ELAA believes there is no need to end the pricing immunity of carriers. However, in August the ELAA proposed to the EC competition directorate a compromise that would remove the immunity for joint conference rate pricing but retain a narrower immunity for ocean carriers covering collective activities such as the setting of joint surcharges and the calculation of price indexes.
   The EC white paper cites the ELAA proposal without making any positive or negative assessment of it.
   The ELAA welcomed the positive response from Mario Monti, the commissioner for competition, that he was encouraged by “the present constructive attitude” of shipping companies.
   “We are pleased that our proposal for a replacement regime has been included in the white paper and that the commission is continuing its review,” Soerensen said.
   But ELAA criticized the EC white paper for not having acknowledged the evidence that it and consultants from Erasmus University provided in support of the retention of the current antitrust system.
   The ELAA suggested it could further benefit the review if other interested parties, such as ports and terminals, were to increase their involvement in the next stage of the process.