ESC LAWYER URGES EC TO REFUSE IMMUNITY FOR ATLANTIC PACT

ESC LAWYER URGES EC TO REFUSE IMMUNITY FOR ATLANTIC PACT

ESC LAWYER URGES EC TO REFUSE IMMUNITY FOR ATLANTIC PACT

   Mark Clough, the lawyer representing the
European Shippers’ Council, has urged the European Commission to refuse to grant
antitrust immunity to the new North Atlantic Agreement.

   The agreement, expected to replace the
struggling Trans-Atlantic Conference Agreement, would allow its 19 transatlantic shipping
line members to have a conference tariff, discuss common issues such as capacity and adopt
individual or joint confidential service contracts.

   "The North Atlantic Agreement clearly
falls outside the ‘regulation of capacity’ block exemption" of current EC
antitrust regulations, the lawyer told the Containerization International conference in
London. "The obvious purpose of the exchange of information is to increase prices at
the quarterly tariff review (of the group) in the light of the capacity utilization
figures relating to 80 percent of the market," he added.

   The North Atlantic Agreement also does not
qualify for exemption under EC conference regulations, because the agreement’s
proposed confidential contracts would not meet the regulation’s test of conferences
having "common or uniform rates," the lawyer argued.