'Go to court' dare to chambers
Published on: Friday, September 26, 2014
Kota Kinabalu: Tracy Patrick Local shipping industry players can take their objection to the Block Exemption Order (BEO) for liner shipping agreements to court if they wish.Domestic Trade, Consumerism and Co-operatives Minister Datuk Hasan Malek (pic) said this would give a clear ruling on how the Competition Act 2010 and BEO should be interpreted.
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"Our country is easy. They can do that. Malaysia Competition Commission (MyCC) Chairperson Tan Sri Siti Norma Yaakob is a former judge. If they are not satisfied, there are other avenues they can go to."If they want to lodge complaints or demands, that is OK. But if they want to hold a discussion with the Ministry, we are open to that also. I would love to engage with them," he said during a press conference, Thursday.Hasan was commenting on complaints by local trade chambers who said the BEO granted to Malaysian Shipowners Association, Shipping Association of Malaysia and Federation of Malaysian Port Operators Council by MyCC, violates the principle of free competition under Section 4 and 5 of the Competition Act 2010.The group argued that the exemption, which was granted in December last year and took effect in July this year, would further increase the already high cost of living and goods in Sabah due to the cabotage policy.
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The BEO only applies to transport services provided by liner operators in respect of ocean transport and does not include any inland carriage of goods.It will continue in force for three years from its gazette date which is July 4 this year or until it is cancelled by the MyCC.
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It was said that the shipowners would seek refuge in the BEO should the cabotage policy that forbids transportation of goods within the nation in foreign vessels is relaxed.Under the cabotage policy, all shipments from foreign vessels must first go to Port Klang before the cargo is redirected to domestic ports using Malaysian-woned vessels.The policy has since been partly liberalised.Meanwhile, Hasan revealed that Ops Titik, which aimed to combat subsidised petroleum smuggling out of the country, had successfully foiled more than 413 attempts with seized assets worth RM20.367million."Since the operation was launched nationwide on May 15 until August, the government had managed to save 422,821,319 litres of subsidised diesel worth RM295.97million."The problem of stock-out diesel in fuel stations is no longer a problem. This means that the activity of misappropriation of diesel in fuel stations in the country had gone down," he said.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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