News
The European Commission has prolonged for another four years the regulation outlining the conditions under which liner shipping consortia can provide joint services without infringing EU antitrust rules that prohibit anticompetitive agreements between companies.
This regulation known as the ''Consortia Block Exemption Regulation'' is therefore extended until April 25, 2024. More specifically, liner shipping consortia are agreements between shipping companies to operate joint liner shipping services and engage in certain types of operational cooperation leading to economies of scale and a better utilization of the space on vessels.
Though EU law generally bans agreements between companies that restrict competition, the Consortia Block Exemption Regulation allows, under certain conditions, liner shipping operators with a combined market share of below 30% to enter into cooperation agreements to provide joint liner shipping services (known as ''consortia''). These agreements, however, cannot include price-fixing or market-sharing.
The current Consortia Block Exemption Regulation was adopted in 2009 and prolonged in 2014 by five years, and was due to expire on April 25, 2020.
