OECD POSTPONES REGULATORY MEETING UNTIL JANUARY

OECD POSTPONES REGULATORY MEETING UNTIL JANUARY    The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development will convene a second meeting of its influential “workshop on regulatory reform in maritime transport” for January in Paris.
   The inter-governmental gathering will discuss a potential reform of shipping competition rules and the role of carrier agreements such as liner conferences and discussion agreements.
   Wolfgang Hubner, division head at the OECD, said the meeting was due to be held in November. But it will be postponed until January and will run back-to-back with the OECD’s maritime transport workshop on cargo liability, over a period of three days, he said.
   About 120 delegates from governments, competition agencies and the industry attended the first OECD meeting of the workshop on regulatory reform in maritime transport last May in Paris.
   Following the meeting, OECD said it would conduct a study on the effects of:
   * Common pricing.
   * Discussion and stabilization agreements on shippers and shipowners.
   * Removing the carriers’ antitrust immunity for common pricing.
   The results of this study won't likely be published before next summer, Hubner said.