By Foo Yun Chee

BRUSSELS, July 7 (Reuters) – EU antitrust regulators accepted on Thursday a suggestion from Maersk, the world’s largest container delivery liner, and 13 opponents to alter their pricing practices so as to stave off potential fines.

The case is intently watched by different sectors comparable to supermarkets and chemical substances firms, involved that comparable pricing strategies may result in prices of worth fixing by competitors enforcers.

The European Commission opened a case in opposition to the container delivery liners in late 2013, following daybreak raids two years earlier.

The firms agreed to publish binding precise charges 31 days earlier than they go into impact, with the figures performing as a worth ceiling. Under the present system, they solely publish the quantity of the rise, not the ultimate worth.

The different 13 companies are No.2 participant MSC, No. 3 CMA CGM, Germany’s Hapag Lloyd and Hamburg Sud, Taiwan’s Evergreen Marine, China Ocean Shipping (Group) Company (COSCO) , OOCL (Orient Overseas Container Line), South Korean companies Hanjin and Hyundai Merchant Marine, Japan’s Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL) and Nippon Yusen Kaisha , United Arab Shipping Company (UASC) and Israel’s Zim.

Reuters reported on June 28 that the Commission would settle for the provide.

“The commitments offered by 14 carriers will make prices for these services more transparent and increase competition,” European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager stated in a press release.

The concessions are legitimate for 3 years, ranging from December. (Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; Editing by Robert-Jan Bartunek and Mark Potter)

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