Freight Forwarder Groupage Conference

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The so-called Freight Forwarder Groupage Conference (SSK) consisted of freight forwarding companies that were active in the national Austrian groupage transport for general cargo and published the current tariffs for the transport of general cargo in a printed brochure that was published annually until 2007 ; it also included a list of member firms. There were also computer programs for calculating tariffs according to SSK. Until 2007, the SSK was organized in the legal form of a company under civil law and was part of the Central Association of Freight Forwarders (ZV, now: Central Association of Spedition & Logistics ). It served anti-trust industry agreements.

history

The SSK framework agreement has by no means existed secretly since the 1960s and initially included both national Austrian and cross-border general cargo traffic; In connection with Austria's accession to the EU , the framework agreement was limited in 1994 to groupage transport within Austria . According to the decision of the Higher Regional Court of Vienna as a cartel court of February 2, 1996, 4 Kt 79 / 95-12, it was determined that the Freight Forwarders Conference (SSK) founded by the members of the Central Association of Freight Forwarders in 1994 was a minor cartel in the sense of Section 16 of the Cartel Act . The companies involved in the SSK also invoked in 2010 after the initiation of the fine proceedings (see below) that the SSK was an admissible and registered minor cartel. Due to the official nature of the SSK and the fact that it was publicly known, the companies concerned were of the opinion that they had not participated in any illegal cartel or prohibited price fixing and relied in this regard on the Central Association of Freight Forwarders , whose core task it had been to check whether the criteria for a permissible minor cartel exist.

Fine proceedings

The Federal Competition Authority (BWB) initiated investigations on the basis of a leniency application from the Austrian subsidiary of Schenker AG in 2007 and in 2010 applied to the cartel court for fines against the companies involved, with the exception of the leniency witness. According to the BWB, between 1994 and 2007, 42 Austrian freight forwarders formed a professionally organized price and agreement cartel for general cargo in road transport. In addition - also according to the BWB - the SSK has been investigating another cartel for the groupage business on the rails since 1999 with the rail freight forwarder Rail Cargo Austria .

The Higher Regional Court of Vienna as a cartel court dismissed the BWB's application for a fine in the first instance on February 22, 2011 on the grounds that the companies were not at fault if they relied on the cartel court decision from 1996 to continue to apply (non-accusable error of law ).

On December 5, 2011, the Austrian Supreme Court submitted a request for a preliminary ruling to the ECJ on this legal issue . The preliminary ruling issued by the ECJ on June 18, 2013 was to the disadvantage of the SSK members. Contrary to the opinion of the Higher Regional Court and contrary to the Opinion of the Advocate General , the Luxembourg judges replied to the questions of the Supreme Court that no one could excuse themselves in the case of price fixing by saying that they themselves could rely on legal advice from a law firm or information from the authority about the legality wrong of his behavior.

As of January 2015, the cartel court had sentenced 30 companies to fines totaling € 17.5 million. At this point in time, the penalty was already final in 28 cases, including Rail Cargo Austria , which had received the highest penalty at € 8.5 million.

Similar historical conferences, collusion and restraints of competition

In the transport industry there have been several conferences, agreements and restrictions of competition similar to the SSK, including the following:

  • Car collective load conference as a cartel approved in Austria (before 1994)
  • Rail group cargo conference as a cartel approved in Austria (before 1994)
  • Liner conference or conference , formed as a group of shipping companies that provide international liner services for the transport of cargo within fixed geographical boundaries and that has agreed to provide liner services on the basis of uniform or joint freight rates and any other agreed terms and conditions work. This determination of the transport prices and conditions, the distribution of the loading quantities or the income among the members in the maritime transport for cabotage services and tramp services (irregular bulk transport by sea) was permitted (until October 18, 2008) according to Article 3 of Regulation (EEC) No. 4056 / 86 as an exception to the cartel prohibition of the then Art 81 ex 85 EC, now Art 101 TFEU .
  • Regulation and agreement of transport charges in accordance with Regulation (EEC) No. 3568/83 of the Council of December 1, 1983 (valid until December 31, 1989) on the formation of transport charges in road haulage between the member states
  • Uniform transport tariff ( tariffa di riferimento ) of the Federazione Nazionale Spedizionieri ( Milan 1992).
  • In line with Regulation (EC) No. 823/2000 of the Commission of April 19, 2000 (in force from April 26, 2000 to April 25, 2010) for the application of Article 81 (3) of the EC Treaty, certain agreements, decisions and each other were in the liner shipping service coordinated behavior between shipping companies ( consortia ) is permitted. This regulation was extended to 2020 by Commission Regulation (EC) No. 906/2009 of 28 September 2009 on the application of Article 81 (3) of the EC Treaty to certain groups of agreements, decisions and concerted practices between shipping companies (consortia ).
  • Cabotage was limited under Community law for a long time and now still has administrative hurdles in accordance with Council Regulation (EEC) No. 3118/93 of 25 October 1993 laying down the conditions for the authorization of transport companies to carry goods by road within a Member State in which they are not established are.
  • Price fixing and performance agreements in international air traffic, which were effective until the 1990s and around 2006, within the framework of IATA .

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ [1] , industrial magazine March 31, 2010
  2. ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original dated November 9, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Salzburg Chamber of Commerce, queried March 2, 2011 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.salzburg-transport.at
  3. ↑ a b 17.5 million euros cartel fine for freight forwarders. In: nachrichten.at . Retrieved August 15, 2017 .
  4. ↑ The SSK was expressly represented in a government bill of the Cartel Act 1972, 473 of the supplements of the National Council of the XIII. Legislative period
  5. ↑ The standard . January 24, 2011
  6. ^ [2] , announcement of the BWB
  7. ↑ The press . February 26, 2011.
  8. ↑ On this Walter Brugger : Verbotserrrtum und Kartellrecht (PDF; 142 kB) at www.profbrugger.at, requested on March 2, 2011
  9. ↑ See decision excerpt (PDF; 2.2 MB) requested on July 18, 2012.
  10. ↑ Counterpart at the ECJ to C-681/11; see curia.europa.eu
  11. ↑ Opinion on C-681/11
  12. ↑ Decision of the ECJ on C-681/11
  13. ^ Register number K 40 of the Cartel Court at the Higher Regional Court of Vienna; deleted by court order 4 Kt 877/93
  14. ^ Register number K 41 of the Cartel Court at the Higher Regional Court of Vienna; deleted by court order 4 Kt 878/93
  15. ↑ Regulation (EEC) No. 4056/86
  16. ↑ Press release Commission July 1, 2008, IP / 08/1063
  17. ^ Basedow in: European Transport Policy (Tübingen 1987), page 17.
  18. ↑ L'AUTORITA 'GARANTE DELLA CONCORRENZA E DEL MERCATO
  19. ↑ Regulation (EC) No. 823/2000
  20. ↑ Regulation (EC) No. 906/2009
  21. ↑ Goods: Non-resident carriers in the domestic market. Retrieved September 30, 2018 . and Regulation (EEC) No. 3118/93 . In: OJ L 279 of November 12, 1993, pp. 1-16.