CN: STB’s NEW MERGER RULES MUST NOT VIOLATE NAFTA

CN: STBÆS NEW MERGER RULES MUST NOT VIOLATE NAFTA    Canadian National Railway has urged the U.S. Surface Transportation Board to ensure that its proposed rail merger rules do not violate the North Atlantic Free Trade Agreement and do not discriminate against non-U.S. railroads proposing transnational mergers.
   CN also asked the STB to drop rules that would “substitute unnecessary regulation for market-driven decisions” and would also “increase regulatory risk and uncertainty for merger proponents.”
   Also, CN said merger proponents should be able to obtain an STB ruling on mergers within one year of filing their notice of intent to merge.
   CN supports the STB in its proposal that would require merger applicants to have service assurance and safety integration plans and to show evidence how operational changes would benefit the shipping public.
   “The merger rules should … avoid unnecessary or open-ended regulation; continue to facilitate private initiative; further the public interest in trade and investment flows as envisaged by Congress when it approved NAFTA; and, avoid advantaging one group of railroads over another,” CN said.
   The STB should not impose different merger standards to Mexican or Canadian companies proposing transnational mergers than it would apply to domestic U.S. railroad merger parties, CN said.