The European Commission will run between May 4th and July 27th 2012, a public consultation concerning the the future of the Maritime Antitrust Guidelines. This consultation aims at gathering views from affected stakeholders as regards to the eventual phasing out of the specific regime of maritime transport sector.

According to the Commission's directorate general for competition preliminary assessment, the main purpose of the Maritime Antitrust Guidelines put in place in 2008 is no longer required. These Guidelines contained guidance for operators active in liner shipping and tramp vessel services on how to assess compliance of their business practices with EU competition rules following the 2006 review of the antitrust rules applicable to maritime transport services.

Taking into account the present situation and the future of the sector, the Commission's DG Competition proposes in its preliminary assessment to let the Guidelines lapse rather than extending or overhauling them. The main reasons to do so, lie on the fact that the main purpose of the Guidelines to facilitate transition has already been achieved, that these Guidelines now overlap with general antitrust guidelines and that the Commission has been willing to bring the maritime transport within the generally applicable competition law framework.

The DG Competition concludes that the Maritime Antitrust Guidelines bring no significant additional guidance compared to the existing Commission general guidelines, the EU Courts case law and the Commission's decisions. Therefore, in order to inform further decision, the DG Competition has invited stakeholders concerned by the future of the Maritime Antitrust Guidelines to present their views and will carry out a public consultation until July 27th 2012.