Singapore outlines block exemption plans

Singapore outlines block exemption plans    The Competition Commission of Singapore (CCS) Thursday put forward its proposal for a block exemption order that will require liner shipping agreements with more than 50 percent market share to publish rate information in order to gain immunity from the country’s Competition Act.
   The proposed duration of the block exemption order, which will take effect retrospectively from Jan. 1, is five years.
   The CCS defined “liner shipping agreement” as a situation covering any joint services when two or more carriers cooperate in terms of technical, operational or commercial arrangements or pricing. Liner shipping services covered by the proposals include inland carriage of goods occurring as part of through transport, but not bulk and tramp shipping.
   Under the CCS plans, 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 proposed block exemption order sets out a proposal for a regulatory environment broadly aligned with that already in place for major jurisdictions, and which will promote and sustain competition as well as ensure that businesses in Singapore have ongoing access to reliable and competitively priced liner shipping services of adequate frequency,” the CCS said in a statement.
   Singapore’s proposal is in contrast to the European Commission’s decision in December to repeal Regulation 4056/86, which grants liner conferences an exemption to set common freight rates and cooperate on capacity, and is likely to provoke strong objections from Asian shippers.
   The closing date for public consultations on the CCS plans is April 27.