Commission Regulation (EC) No 906/2009Show full title

CHAPTER II EXEMPTIONS

Article 3 Exempted agreements

Pursuant to Article 81(3) of the Treaty and subject to the conditions laid down in this Regulation, it is hereby declared that Article 81(1) of the Treaty shall not apply to the following activities of a consortium:

1.

the joint operation of liner shipping services including any of the following activities:

(a)

the coordination and/or joint fixing of sailing timetables and the determination of ports of call;

(b)

the exchange, sale or cross-chartering of space or slots on vessels;

(c)

the pooling of vessels and/or port installations;

(d)

the use of one or more joint operations offices;

(e)

the provision of containers, chassis and other equipment and/or the rental, leasing or purchase contracts for such equipment;

2.

capacity adjustments in response to fluctuations in supply and demand;

3.

the joint operation or use of port terminals and related services (such as lighterage or stevedoring services);

4.

any other activity ancillary to those referred to in points 1, 2 and 3 which is necessary for their implementation, such as:

(a)

the use of a computerised data exchange system;

(b)

an obligation on members of a consortium to use in the relevant market or markets vessels allocated to the consortium and to refrain from chartering space on vessels belonging to third parties;

(c)

an obligation on members of a consortium not to assign or charter space to other vessel-operating carriers in the relevant market or markets except with the prior consent of the other members of the consortium.

Article 4 Hardcore restrictions

The exemption provided for in Article 3 shall not apply to a consortium which, directly or indirectly, in isolation or in combination with other factors under the control of the parties, has as its object:

1.

the fixing of prices when selling liner shipping services to third parties;

2.

the limitation of capacity or sales except for the capacity adjustments referred to in Article 3(2);

3.

the allocation of markets or customers.