Aspects juridiques de la concurrence maritime : etude comparative a partir du droit communautaire
Institution:
Paris 1Disciplines:
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Abstract EN:
Theold competition system of international maritime transport, seen as one entity, is in a process of disintegration. During the whole of the 19th century and even after the second world war, the freedom of matitime commerce, ideological cradle of the british regime, reflected the predominance of private cartels, whose origins could be traced to a limited number of countries, and the abstention of the state. Since the 1960s, numerous actors have emerged on the international stage, advocating different philosophies which question the main aspects of the established regime. No longer are there any stable reference points : internationalism, nationalism, hard core or moderate liberalism and mercantilism coexist. The state supports its merchant fleet to a larger scale than even before and contributes to an extreme intensification of commercial rivalry. Maritime competition therefore takes place at two levels. At one level, there is the free market competition between enterprises in which case the sovereign state assumes a disciplinary role without direct interference. American and community legislators attempt to discipline the maritime industry by taking into account the economic particularities of the sector, its international regulation and self regulatory elements. At a second level, competition becomes an issue of state policy. States increasingly resort to numerous legal measures in order to either limit market access by foreign ships or to alter the basic conditions of competition. This second form of intervention, that is the artificial inequality in competition conditions, shifts the core of the debate from the issue of free competition to the issue of fairness in competition. The current concern on maritime security is a proof of this shift.
Abstract FR:
Le systeme concurrentiel des transports maritimes internationaux, jadis unitaire, se desintegre. Tout au long du 19eme siecle et meme apres la deuxieme guerre mondiale, la liberte du commerce maritime, assise ideologique du regime britannique, exprimait le regne d'un ordre maritime prive, originaire d'un petit nombre de pays, et l'abstention etatique. Depuis les annees 60, l'irruption sur la scene internationale de nombreux acteurs prechant des philosophies differentes a remis en cause les certitudes du regime en vigueur. Des points de reference stables font desormais defaut : internationalisme et nationalisme, liberalisme dur ou modere, et mercantilisme coexistent. Plus que jamais auparavant l'etat descend aux cotes de son armement, intensifiant excessivement la lutte commerciale. La concurrence maritime se presente alors sur deux niveaux : sur le premier, les entreprises maritimes se livrent bataille, comme il est de regle sur un marche 0u les forces sont libres : le role du souverain se limite a discipliner ces forces sans s'interferer. Les legislateurs, americain et communautaire, ont entendu discipliner l'industrie maritime tout en tenant compte des particularites economiques du secteur, de son autoregulation et des reglementations internationales. Sur le deuxieme niveau, la concurrence devient au contraire enjeu des politiques etatiques. Les etats ont recours a une surenchere des mesures juridiques visant soit a restreindre l'acces au marche des navires etrangers soit a fausser les conditions concurrentielles de depart. Cette derniere forme d'intervention, l'inegalite artificielle des conditions concurrentielles, deplace le debat de la liberte de la concurrence a la loyaute dans la concurrence : les preoccupations actuelles en matiere de securite maritime en donnent la preuve.