Govt to exempt shipping vessel sharing pacts from CCI ambit

The government is likely to continue to exempt vessel sharing agreements among shipping companies from the purview of fair trade watchdog CCI after finding that such pacts are unlikely to hurt competition.

Vessel Sharing Agreement (VSA), that allows entities to share space in each other's vessels, is a common practice in the shipping industry.

The Corporate Affairs Ministry is expected to soon issue a notification with regard to exempting VSAs from the ambit of Competition Commission of India (CCI), an official said.

After the CCI and the Director General of Shipping reviewed the situation during the last exemption period, it was found that such pacts did not cause any appreciable adverse impact on competition. Hence, it has been decided to continue with the exemption, the official added.

A one-year exemption, which was earlier provided by the government, expired in December last year. That exemption was applicable for carriers of all nationalities operating ships of any nationality from any Indian port.

CCI, which keeps a tab on unfair trade practices across sectors, comes under the Corporate Affairs Ministry.

Once the exemption is in place, then shipping industry entities would not have to seek approval from the Competition Commission for VSAs.