Shipping Conferences Exemption Act, 1987

Marginal note:Competition Act not to apply to certain contracts

• 4 (1) Subject to subsections (2) to (4) and section 5, the Competition Act does not apply in respect of any conference agreement or interconference agreement to the extent that

  • (a) the conference agreement or interconference agreement requires a member of a conference to use a tariff;

  • (b) the conference agreement or interconference agreement requires a member of a conference to carry out a loyalty contract if that loyalty contract

    • (i) provides that it may be terminated by either party at any time after ninety days from the day notice in writing of intention to terminate is given to the other party,

    • (ii) provides for the application to goods shipped by the shipper of tariffs that incorporate a dual rate system in which no contract rate for any goods is less than eighty-five per cent of the non-contract rate for those goods,

    • (iii) makes no provision for the payment by any member of a conference of a rebate of any rate charged for the transportation of any goods shipped by the shipper, and

    • (iv) contains no term or condition in a standard form approved by the members of a conference requiring a shipper of goods to offer to those members for transportation by them all goods shipped by that shipper;

  • (c) the conference agreement establishes terms and conditions respecting the use of service contracts by members of a conference;

  • (d) the conference agreement or interconference agreement provides for the allocation among members of a conference of the ports in Canada or elsewhere to which or from which they may transport goods;

  • (e) the conference agreement or interconference agreement regulates the time of sailing of vessels of members of a conference and the kinds of service members of a conference may provide for the transportation of goods;

  • (f) the conference agreement or interconference agreement provides for the sharing by members of a conference of the transportation of goods offered for shipment by shippers or of earnings and losses of those members arising out of the transportation of goods; or

  • (g) the conference agreement or interconference agreement regulates the admission of ocean carriers to membership in a conference and the expulsion of members from a conference.

• Marginal note:Exception re filing

  (2) Subsection (1) does not apply in respect of a conference agreement or interconference agreement until a copy or description of the agreement is filed with the Agency in accordance with subsection 6(1).

• Marginal note:Exception re independent action

  (3) Subsection (1) does not apply in respect of a conference agreement unless the conference agreement

  • (a) provides that any member of the conference may, after giving to the other members of the conference five days written notice, or such lesser number of days written notice as may be specified in the conference agreement, of the member’s intention to do so, take independent action;

  • (b) provides that, when a member of the conference gives notice as described in paragraph (a), any other member of the conference may, after giving to the other members of the conference notice in writing of the member’s intention to do so, take the same independent action as soon as the first independent action becomes effective; and

  • (c) provides that, when a member of the conference gives notice as described in paragraph (a), the members of the conference shall publish or cause to be published the new rate or service item in a tariff not later than five days after the day on which the notice is received by the members of the conference.

• Marginal note:Exception re service contracts

  (3.1) The terms and conditions established by a conference agreement under paragraph (1)(c) shall not have the effect of preventing a member of the conference from negotiating or entering into a service contract on terms and conditions that the member considers appropriate and without having to give notice to the other members or having to divulge the terms and conditions of the contract.

• Marginal note:Exception re predatory practices

  (4) Subsection (1) does not have the effect of exempting from the application of the Competition Act any member of a conference who engages in, or who conspires, agrees or arranges with another person to engage in, a practice of selling products at prices unreasonably low that has the effect or tendency of substantially lessening competition or eliminating a competitor or is designed to have that effect and that is a practice of anti-competitive acts referred to in paragraph 79(1)(b) of that Act.