The European Shippers' Council, responding to the European Commission's draft guidelines on banning shipping conferences, advised EU regulators to deny shipping lines any wiggle room by making the regulations general rather than specific.

"ESC strongly believes that the 'Guidelines' should be general and not prescriptive in nature. The 'Guidelines' should deliberately avoid allowing any specific activities beyond those already defined under EU competition law in the decisions of the European courts and commission," said the ESC communique.

ESC said it would prepare a detailed assessment of the 'Guidelines' from the European Commission and will assist the commission as it moves into the final stages of its work towards establishing appropriate competition guidelines for the liner shipping sector.

"The draft guidelines clearly recognize that EC competition law does not permit carriers to exchange information, which would allow carriers directly or indirectly to identify the competitive strategies of their competitors," the statement said.