Shipping Competition Legislation Of A Number Of Issues To Study

A rational and ideal regulatory regime underlied with competition law applying to shipping is of significance to ensure the sound and orderly development of the shipping industry. The shipping industry is unique in comparison with other industries in several aspects and has great influence on national economy, social development and national defence. Therefore, it requires special treatment under competition law. Based on the theoretical research on competition law and foreign legislation governing shipping competition, this dissertation, considering the characteristics of the shipping industry and the current state of China' s shipping market, discusses in depth several issues on the determination of the objectives for legislation governing shipping competition and the designing of the regulatory regime covering rules of anti-trust, anti-trust exemptions and anti unfairness in liner shipping competition. In light of the above contents, this dissertation consists of three parts including the introduction, the text and the conclusions arranged as follows:The introduction presents the purpose of this dissertation and the issues to be discussed.Chapter 1 outlines competition law applying to shipping, analyzes the relation between general competition law and competition law applying to shipping, and also defines legal relations arising from shipping competition and the regulatory regime governing shipping competition.Chapter 2 introduces different regulatory regimes governing shipping competition both at home and abroad. Among them, the EU and US regulatory regimes are highlighted, and the attitudes toward regulation of shipping markets held by the UNCTAD, OECD and WTO are reviewed. And this chapter also points out the need to improve legislation governing shipping competition in China.Chapter 3 serves as the core of this dissertation. Based on the theoretical research on competition law and the characteristics of the shipping industry, this chapter, from the point of economies, probes into the determination of the objectives for legislation governing shipping competition and defines the objectivesas upholding fair and free competition in shipping markets, promoting the concentration of the shipping industry and ensuring win-win relations between shippers and carriers in shipping markets of oligopoly structure. To obtain the above objectives, the regulatory regime governing shipping competition shall be designed to regulate competition activities instead .of the oligopoly strcture of shipping markets. In addition, the uniqueness of the shipping industry requires special treatment under competition law, that is, some restrictive acts may be exempted from anti-trust rules as long as specific conditions are satisfied and prescribed obligations performed.Chapter 4 discusses anti-trust rules governing shipping competition based on general theories of competition law. Such issues as abuse of monopoly power and dominant position, horizontal and vertical restriction, merger and acquisition, concentration of the market as well as administrative monopoly are discussed in this chapter.Chapter 5 discusses anti-trust exemptions granted to conferences, consortia, loyalty contracts and service contracts based on the characteristics of the shipping industry.Chapter 6 discusses rules of anti-unfairness in shipping competition.Chapter 7 points out several issues that shall be paid attention to in legislation regarding shipping competition in China and brings forward several recommendations to these issues.The conclusions summarize the whole dissertation and further clarify the viewpoints held by the author.