Brussels blasted for 'disowning' report on conferences

A QUARREL that has simmered for nearly two years between the European Commission and Erasmus University about an analysis of liner conferences is finally out in the open, writes Janet Porter.

In a letter to Lloyd's List, Professor Hercules Haralambides, head of the Rotterdam university's maritime economics and logistics centre, accuses Brussels of trying to "disown" a report it had commissioned in 2003 at the start of a review on maritime regulation.

The report, published shortly before a public hearing to discuss Regulation 4056/86, which provides container lines with an exemption from EU competition law, concluded that conferences "are not price-fixing cartels".

The opinion was stated in an annex to the main report, with the European Commission making it clear at the time that the views were those of the independent researchers and should not be regarded as representing Brussels' position.

That section was originally contained in the main body of the 110-page analysis. However, it was transferred to an annex at the insistence of Brussels, which claimed consultants had gone beyond their remit.

Lowri Evans, director of the commission's competition directorate, said in a statement to Lloyd's List yesterday that the Erasmus team had been asked to analyse the submissions received in response to its consultation paper on the review of Regulation 4056/86.

Any additional research based on data other than the submissions would have invalidated the purpose of the study., Ms. Evans said. However, as Brussels found this extra contribution interesting, it was published on the commission's website with a disclaimer.

Professor Haralambides rejects the suggestion that the consultants had not been asked to look at freight rate stability as part of the original work programme.

But most of his anger is directed at the European Shippers' Council, which challenged the independence of the analysis by claiming at the Brussels hearing that the study "relies on work done by economists at Erasmus who, the ESC pointed out to the commission before they were instructed, have worked for Nedlloyd in the past".

Source: Lloyd's List