Competition Commission Consults on Proposed Block Exemption Order (BEO) for Liner Shipping Agreements in the Maritime Industry

(View Media Release in PDF)

1. In December last year, the Competition Commission of Singapore (CCS) announced that it will recommend to the Minister for Trade and Industry to exempt certain categories of liner shipping agreements from section 34 of the Competition Act (Cap. 50B) ('Act')1. The CCS has today issued the details of a proposed Block Exemption Order (BEO) for public consultation.

2. Singapore is part of a global shipping network. The CCS is mindful of the larger regulatory environment within which different stakeholders in the shipping industry operate. The proposed BEO 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 on-going access to reliable and competitively priced liner shipping services of adequate frequency. 

3. The proposed duration of the BEO, which will take effect retrospectively from 1 January 2006, is five years. Liner shipping agreements2 relating to scheduled liner shipping services3 will be exempted under the BEO from the section 34 prohibition, 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% market share in any market operated under the agreement, they are required to fulfill certain conditions relating to the filing and publication of information for the agreement to be exempted. An exemption may be cancelled in a particular case where a liner shipping agreement produces effects that do not satisfy the criteria as set out in section 414. The CCS may, where circumstances so warrant, review the BEO before the expiry of 5 years.

4. The CCS will make a recommendation to the Minister for Trade and Industry for the issue of a BEO for the maritime industry by July 2006, after the CCS has evaluated written submissions received during the public consultation.

Public Feedback

5. The consultation documents, including a copy of the proposed BEO, can be downloaded from the CCS website at www.ccs.gov.sg under the section "Public Consultation" (which directs users to subsection “New Consultations”) and the Government Online Consultation Portal at www.feedback.gov.sg. The closing date for submission is at or before noon on 27 April 20065.

6. The CCS will conduct a technical briefing on 12 April 2006 for the maritime industry and relevant stakeholders. Interested parties should refer to the CCS website at www.ccs.gov.sg (under subsection “New Consultations”) for registration details. 

7. Please refer to Annex A (to refer to the full media release) for background information.

- End -

Note: Link to the consultation materials and details on technical briefing.