The Future of Liner Conferences in Europe

Purpose of this study is to establish whether or not it is necessary to exempt liner conferences from the regular mechanisms of European competition law by means of a group exemption. The main proposition of the author is that there is no need to allow liner conferences to engage in joint price fixing activities, with the consequence, that the corresponding exemption should be terminated. A first argument to that effect is that liner conferences constitute oligopolies and are harmful from an economic point of view. Secondly, the author concludes from an interpretation of the requirements laid down in Art. 81 III EC that the block exemption for liner conferences embodied in Art. 3 Regulation 4056/86 cannot be reconciled with the EC Treaty. Finally, the author looks at recent changes in U.S. antitrust policy on the issue of price fixing in the liner shipping industry as an aid to develop a future strategy for the European legislator on the issue of liner conferences.

Autorentext

The Author: Felix Dinger studied law in Passau, Norwich and Bonn from 1994 to 2000. He stayed at the Europainstitut of the University of Basle for the academic year 2000 to 2001 in order to obtain the degree of Master of Advanced European Studies, MAES. Since 2001, the author lives and works in Kiel where he participates in the practical part of the German legal education (Referendariat), which he is due to finish in 2004.

Inhalt
Contents: Development of liner conferences and consortia The current state of liner shipping Liner shipping from an economic perspective European competition law and liner shipping U.S. antitrust policy on the issue of liner shipping under special consideration of the Ocean Shipping Reform Act, OSRA (1998).