International Federation of Freight Forwarders Associations
FIATA, in French “Fédération Internationale des Associations de Transitaires et Assimilés”, in English “International Federation of Freight Forwarders Associations”, in German “Internationale Föderation der Spediteurorganisationen”, was founded in Vienna/Austria on May 31, 1926.
FIATA, a non-governmental organisation, represents today an industry covering approximately 40,000 forwarding and logistics firms, also known as the “Architects of Transport”, employing around 8 – 10 million people in 150 countries.
FIATA has consultative status with the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) of the United Nations (inter alia ECE, ESCAP, ESCWA), the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), and the UN Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL).
It is recognised as representing the freight forwarding industry by many other governmental organisations, governmental authorities, private international organisations in the field of transport such as the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), the International Air Transport Association (IATA), the International Union of Railways (UIC), the International Road Transport Union (IRU), the World Customs Organization (WCO), the World Trade Organization (WTO), etc.
Antitrust Policy
Antitrust and competition laws are designed to prevent a variety of anticompetitive business practices.
Because FIATA is an international organization, the activities of its members are subject to the differing competition laws of many countries. Activities which may be lawful in one country may be unlawful in another. It would be virtually impossible to catalog all of the activities or forms of conduct which might fall within the scope of those particular laws, since the laws themselves are stated in very general terms.
Nevertheless, because FIATA believes it is imperative to state at least in broad terms the basic principles which it follows in conducting its business, it has adopted this policy in the hope that it might offer some general guidance for now and the future. This policy is not meant to be an exhaustive statement of principle; it is instead a general overview of applicable policies and is designed to be amended or updated, as circumstances require.
A written summary of these principles should be given to every participant at FIATA meetings, and their attention should be directed to them at the beginning of the meeting.