INDIAN SHIPPING EXEMPTION: ACOMPARATIVE ANALYSIS.

Abstract

The issue arose when the Ministry of Corporate Affairs issued a notification in September 2012 to exempt Vessel Sharing Agreements and Voluntary Discussions Agreement. Looking upon the notification, one can clearly observe that the Ministry has bona fide intention but the application of the notification is ill-conceived. Ministry of Corporate Affairs issued a notification in September 2012 to exempt Vessel Sharing Agreements and Voluntary Discussions Agreement. The notification clearly is of a bonafide nature, but the haste of drafting has made it a waste. The agreements not only promote domestic shipping but also international shipping but such haphazard instructions create nothing apart from trouble. These agreements promote domestic shipping along with international shipping, but irregular instructions create nothing apart from trouble. Upon comparison with countries like Singapore, USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and European Union- which have a better developed shipping industry than ours, we can easily see the lacunae in the laws governing our shipping industry. Cue should be taken from other nations and proper guidelines should be established for the domestic shipping companies. In this paper, we aim to look into the advantages and disadvantages of the exemptions granted by the Competition Commission of India. We shall also see how the regulations are imposed on the shipping industry in India. We will also compare the laws pertaining to Vessel Sharing Agreements and Voluntary Discussions Agreement of other nations to ours. In the end, the question remains, “Are the Shipping Exemptions too much of a good thing?”