NIT LEAGUE BACKS OECD REVIEW OF CARRIERS? ANTITRUST IMMUNITY

NIT LEAGUE BACKS OECD REVIEW OF CARRIERSÆ ANTITRUST IMMUNITY    U.S. shippers belonging to the National Industrial Transportation League continue to encourage the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development to review ocean carriers' antitrust immunity.
   At the same time, the NIT League noted the success of the U.S. Ocean Shipping Reform Act and said the reform law should be given more time to work before formal changes are applied to ocean carriers’ antitrust immunity.
   The league filed its paper with the OECD after surveying members of the group’s Ocean Transportation Committee.
   The NIT League suggested that with OSRA's many reforms “carrier pricing that flows from collective activities (through antitrust immunity) will and should become less significant in the marketplace.”
   In analyzing the issue, the OECD should “carefully consider” if the international shipping industry would be better or worse off if antitrust immunity were eliminated.
   “The reforms that occurred in the Ocean Shipping Reform Act came about because both shippers and carriers agreed that the then-current system could be improved,” said Peter Gatti, NIT League’s vice president of international relations. “The OECD review provides the same opportunity for other governments to consider doing the same.”