874
c. 37
SCH.
Merchant Shipping (Liner Conferences) Act 1982
Merchant Shipping (Liner Conferences) Act 1982
c. 37
875
Article 4
SANCTIONS
1. A shipping line member of a conference shall be entitled, subject to the provisions regarding withdrawal which are embodied in pool schemes and/or cargo-sharing arrangements, to secure its release, without penalty, from the terms of the conference agreement after giving three months' notice, unless the conference agreement provides for a different time period, although it shall be required to fulfil its obligations as a member of the conference up to the date of its release.
2. A conference may, upon notice to be specified in the con- ference agreement, suspend or expel a member for significant failure to abide by the terms and conditions of the conference agreement.
3. No expulsion or suspension shall become effective until a statement in writing of the reasons therefor has been given and until any dispute has been settled as provided in chapter VI.
4. Upon withdrawal or expulsion, the line concerned shall be required to pay its share of the outstanding financial obligations of the conference, up to the date of its withdrawal or expulsion. In cases of withdrawal, suspension or expulsion, the line shall not be relieved of its own financial obligations under the conference agree- ment or of any of its obligations towards shippers.
Article 5
SELF-POLICING
1. A conference shall adopt and keep up to date an illustrative list, which shall be as comprehensive as possible, of practices which are regarded as malpractices and/or breaches of the conference agreement and shall provide effective self-policing machinery to deal with them, with specific provisions requiring:
(a) The fixing of penalties or a range of penalties for mal- practices or breaches, to be commensurate with their scriousness:
(b) The examination and impartial review of an adjudication of complaints, and/or decisions taken on complaints, against malpractices or breaches, by a person or body unconnected with any of the shipping lines members of the conference or their affiliates, on request by the conference or any other party concerned ;
(c) The reporting, on request, on the action taken in con- nection with complaints against malpractices and/or breaches, and on a basis of anonymity for the parties concerned, to the appropriate authorities of the countries whose trade is served by the conference and of the countries whose shipping lines are members of the conference.
2. Shipping lines and conferences are entitled to the full co-opera- tion of shippers and shippers' organizations in the endeavour to combat malpractices and breaches.
Article 6
CONFERENCE AgreemenTS
All conference agreements, pooling, berthing and sailing rights agreements and amendments or other documents directly related to. and which affect, such agreements shall be made available on request to the appropriate authorities of the countries whose trade is served by the conference and of the countries whose shipping lines are members of the conference.
CHAPTER III
RELATIONS WITH SHIPPERS
Article 7
LOYALTY ARRANGEMENTS
1. The shipping lines members of a conference are entitled to institute and maintain loyalty arrangements with shippers, the form and terms of which are matters for consultation between the confer- ence and shippers' organizations or representatives of shippers. These loyalty arrangements shall provide safeguards making explicit the rights of shippers and conference members. These arrangements shall be based on the contract system or any other system which is also lawful.
2. Whatever loyalty arrangements are made, the freight rate applicable to loyal shippers shall be determined within a fixed range of percentages of the freight rate applicable to other shippers. Where a change in the differential causes an increase in the rates charged to shippers, the change can be implemented only after 150 days' notice to those shippers or according to regional practice and/or agreement. Disputes in connexion with a change of the differential shall be settled as provided in the loyalty agreement.
3. The terms of loyalty arrangements shall provide safeguards making explicit the rights and obligations of shippers and of shipping lines members of the conference in accordance with the following provisions, inter alia:
(a) The shipper shall be bound in respect of cargo whose shipment is controlled by him or his affiliated or subsidiary company or his forwarding agent in accordance with the contract of sale of the goods concerned, provided that the shipper shall not, by evasion, subterfuge, or intermediary. attempt to divert cargo in violation of his loyalty commit- ment;
SCH.