CELEX: 
Language: en
Date: 2020-03-24 00:00:00
Title: COMMISSION REGULATION (EU) …/… amending Regulation (EC) No 906/2009 as regards its period of application

EUROPEAN
                    COMMISSION
                                            Brussels, 24.3.2020
                                            C(2020) 1734 final
                COMMISSION REGULATION (EU) …/…
                                of 24.3.2020
   amending Regulation (EC) No 906/2009 as regards its period of application
                         (Text with EEA relevance)
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 ---pagebreak---                               COMMISSION REGULATION (EU) …/…
                                                   of 24.3.2020
           amending Regulation (EC) No 906/2009 as regards its period of application
                                          (Text with EEA relevance)
   THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,
   Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,
   Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 246/2009 of 26 February 2009 on the
   application of Article 81(3) of the Treaty to certain categories of agreements, decisions and
   concerted practices between liner shipping companies (consortia)1, and in particular Article 1
   thereof,
   After consulting the Advisory Committee on Restrictive Practices and Dominant Positions,
   Whereas:
   (1)     Commission Regulation (EC) No 906/20092 grants a block exemption to liner
           shipping consortia from the prohibition contained in Article 101(1) of the Treaty,
           subject to certain conditions. That Regulation applies until 25 April 2020.
   (2)     Based on the Commission's evaluation of Regulation (EC) No 906/2009, following a
           public consultation, the Commission has gathered information and data showing with
           a sufficient degree of certainty that consortia meeting the conditions of Regulation
           (EC) No 906/2009 still satisfy all four conditions of Article 101(3) TFEU. Under
           current and expected market conditions, consortia reduce costs through economies of
           scale, rationalisation of services, and better vessel utilisation. For consortia agreements
           meeting the conditions of Regulation (EC) No 906/2009, a fair share of those cost
           reductions can be expected to flow to customers as a result of competition among
           members of the same consortium (internal competition), complemented by the 30%
           market share threshold, which ensures that sufficient competition remains from
           outside each consortium (external competition). Consortia agreements meeting the
           conditions of Regulation (EC) No 906/2009 are indispensable to produce those
           efficiencies. There is no other less restrictive type of cooperation among container
           liner shipping operators that would produce the same benefits. Finally, consortia
   1
     OJ L 79, 25.3.2009, p. 1. With effect from 1 December 2009, Articles 81 and 82 of the EC Treaty have
     become respectively Articles 101 and 102 TFEU.
   2
     Commission Regulation (EC) No 906/2009 of 28 September 2009 on the application of Article 81(3) of the
     Treaty to certain categories of agreements, decisions and concerted practices between liner shipping
     companies (consortia) (OJ L 256, 29.9.2009, p. 31).
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 ---pagebreak---             agreements meeting the conditions of Regulation (EC) No 906/2009 do not afford
            their members the possibility of eliminating competition in respect of a substantial part
            of liner shipping services in the respective relevant markets, because of both external
            competition and internal competition. Therefore, the reasons justifying a block
            exemption for consortia, which also facilitates the implementation of relevant
            consortia, are still valid.
   (3)      The conditions on the basis of which the scope and content of Regulation (EC) No
            906/2009 were determined have remained sufficiently similar for the application of
            that Regulation to be extended.
   (4)      In order to allow the Commission to take into account possible changes in market
            circumstances and in line with the Commission’s powers under Article 2, paragraphs 1
            and 2 of Regulation (EC) No 246/2009, the period of application of Regulation (EC)
            No 906/2009 should be extended by four years.
   (5)      Regulation (EC) No 906/2009 should therefore be amended accordingly,
   HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:
                                                 Article 1
   In Article 7 of Regulation (EC) No 906/2009, the second paragraph is replaced by the
   following:
   ‘It shall apply until 25 April 2024’.
                                                 Article 2
   This Regulation shall enter into force on the twentieth day following that of its publication in
   the Official Journal of the European Union.
   This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.
   Done at Brussels, 24.3.2020
                                                  For the Commission
                                                  The President
                                                  Ursula VON DER LEYEN
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