§271-35  Agreements between carriers. 
(a)  For purposes of this section the term "antitrust laws" means any
law of the State previously enacted or hereafter enacted pertaining to unlawful
restraints of trade and monopolies.



(b)  Any carrier party to an agreement between
or among two or more carriers relating to rates, fares, classifications,
divisions, allowances, or charges (including charges between carriers and
compensation paid or received for the use of facilities and equipment), or
rules and regulations pertaining thereto, or procedures for the joint
consideration, initiation, or establishment thereof, may, under such rules and
regulations as the public utilities commission may prescribe, apply to the
commission for approval of the agreement, and the commission shall by order
approve any agreement (if approval thereof is not prohibited by subsections (d)
or (e)) if it finds that, by reason of furtherance of the transportation policy
declared in this chapter, the relief provided in subsection (h) should apply
with respect to the making and carrying out of the agreement; otherwise the
application shall be denied.  The approval of the commission shall be granted
only upon such terms and conditions as the commission may prescribe as
necessary to enable it to grant its approval in accordance with the standard
above set forth in this subsection.



(c)  Each conference, bureau, committee, or
other organization established or continued pursuant to any agreement approved
by the commission under this section shall maintain such accounts, records,
files, and memoranda and shall submit to the commission such reports, as may be
prescribed by the commission, and all the accounts, records, files, and
memoranda shall be subject to inspection by the commission or its duly
authorized representatives.



(d)  The commission shall not approve under
this section any agreement between or among carriers of different classes
unless it finds that the agreement is of the character described in subsection
(b) of this section and is limited to matters relating to transportation under
joint rates or over through routes; and for purposes of this subsection
carriers by aircraft are carriers of one class; carriers by motor vehicles are
carriers of one class; carriers by water are carriers of one class.



(e)  The commission shall not approve under
this section any agreement which establishes a procedure for the determination
of any matter through joint consideration unless it finds that under the
agreement there is accorded to each party the free and unrestrained right to
take independent action either before or after any determination arrived at
through such procedure.



(f)  The commission is authorized, upon
complaint or upon its own initiative without complaint, to investigate and
determine whether any agreement previously approved by it under this section,
or terms and conditions upon which the approval was granted, is not or are not
in conformity with the standard set forth in subsection (b), or whether any
such terms and conditions are not necessary for purposes of conformity with the
standard, and, after the investigation, the commission shall by order terminate
or modify its approval of the agreement if it finds the action necessary to
insure conformity with the standard, and shall modify the terms and conditions
upon which the approval was granted to the extent it finds necessary to insure
conformity with the standard or to the extent to which it finds the terms and
conditions not necessary to insure such conformity.  The effective date of any
order terminating or modifying approval, or modifying terms and conditions,
shall be postponed for such period as the commission determines to be
reasonably necessary to avoid undue hardship.



(g)  No order shall be entered under this
section except after interested parties have been afforded reasonable
opportunity for hearing.



(h)  Parties to any agreement approved by the
commission under this section and other persons are, if the approval of such
agreement is not prohibited by subsection (d) or (e), relieved from the
operation of the antitrust laws with respect to the making of such agreement,
and with respect to the carrying out of the agreement in conformity with its
provisions and in conformity with the terms and conditions prescribed by the commission.



(i)  Any action of the commission under this
section in approving an agreement or in denying an application for such
approval, or in terminating or modifying its approval of an agreement, or in
prescribing the terms and conditions upon which its approval is to be granted,
or in modifying such terms and conditions, shall be construed as having effect
solely with reference to the applicability of the relief provisions of
subsection (h). [L 1961, c 121, pt of §2; am L 1963, c 193, §35; Supp, §106C-33;
HRS §271-35]



 



Case Notes



 



  Hawaii household goods movers no longer exempt from
Interstate Commerce Commission regulation.  395 F. Supp. 261.