NORTH ATLANTIC CARRIERS STILL WANT EC APPROVAL FOR “REVISED TACA”

NORTH ATLANTIC CARRIERS STILL WANT EC APPROVAL FOR “REVISED TACA”

NORTH ATLANTIC CARRIERS STILL WANT EC APPROVAL FOR “REVISED TACA”

   The carriers of the Trans-Atlantic Conference Agreement still hope they will obtain European Commission approval for their revised conference agreement, despite the legal setbacks they faced at the Court of First Instance in Luxembourg.

   “Earlier this year, the European Commission published a notice indicating its intention to exempt the current TACA, to the extent (if at all) that it is not already covered by the block exemption of Regulation No. 4056,” a spokesman for the carrier group said. “The TACA lines understand that this exemption is expected in the near future.”

   Matthew Levitt, attorney with Lovells, the law firm that represents the TACA carriers, said that, since 1999, the “revised TACA” agreement has had no joint inland ratemaking, and has allowed confidential, individual service contracts.

   “We hope to get an exemption (from the European Commission) in the next few months,” he said.

   The Court of First Instance in Luxembourg strongly criticized on Thursday the dual-pricing practices and capacity management program of the former Trans-Atlantic Agreement and Trans-Atlantic Conference Agreement, as well as their inland pricing. These practices have now been discontinued.

   “Whilst today’s judgments clarify, in a number of respects, the interpretation of Regulation No. 4056, on the application of the competition rules to maritime transport, they do not require the TACA lines to modify their current agreement or practices,” a spokesman for TACA said.

   While 12 ocean carriers belonged to the TAA pact in 1993, only seven continue to be part of the “revised TACA” conference. They are Atlantic Container Line, Hapag-Lloyd, Mediterranean Shipping Co., Maersk Sealand, NYK, OOCL and P&O Nedlloyd.