THE SHIPPING CONFERENCES EXEMPTION ACT

The Shipping Conferences Exemption Act (SCEA) was amended in 2001, mainly to keep Canada’s conference legislation in balance with the legislation of its major trading partners.

The amendments to this legislation that came into force on January 30, 2001, are:

• Shipping conferences are permitted to use electronic means to file conference documents (other than tariffs) with the  Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA).
• Filing of conference tariffs with the CTA was abolished.
• Shipping conferences are required to provide electronic access to the public to their tariff information and other publicly accessible conference documents.
• The period by which an individual conference member must notify its other conference members of its intention to take independent action on rates and other service items was reduced from fifteen to five days. Likewise, the publication requirement of such action was reduced from fifteen to five days.
• Individual conference members are able to negotiate confidential service contracts on terms and conditions independent from those established by the conference.
• Individual conference members are not obligated to provide notice to the other conference members or divulge any details of that service contract.
• The fine for non-compliance with the Act was raised from $1,000 per day to $10,000 per day.

Transport Canada continues to monitor developments in the legislation of its major trading partners relating to shipping conferences with a vision to ensure that Canada’s conference legislation remains in balance.

November 2006