Appendix 26. The Antitrust Division's International Program

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APPENDIX 26

THE ANTITRUST DIVISION’S INTERNATIONAL

PROGRAM

Both former Assistant Attorney General Christine Varney and

Acting Assistant Attorney General Sharis Pozen have made the

international dimension of competition policy and enforcement among

the top priorities for the Antitrust Division. The continuing role of

Rachel Brandenburger as Special Advisor, International has added a new

dimension to the Antitrust Division’s international work. The Antitrust

Division’s international program carries forward the work of developing

strong cooperative relationships among competition agencies.1

A. CASE COOPERATION

Cooperation is fundamentally important to competition enforcement

in today’s globalized world. It is increasingly common for many

agencies to investigate the same matter. The decisions of one agency can

impact consumers elsewhere. The Antitrust Division works closely with

its counterparts in other jurisdictions on a wide range of cartel, merger

and civil non-merger enforcement matters that affect U.S. consumers.

In fiscal year 2010, the Division worked on almost 40 civil

investigations with an international dimension, most of which involved

cooperation with competition agencies in other jurisdictions. Similarly,

during 2011, we cooperated on merger reviews – often pursuant to

waivers from the parties – with competition agencies in Australia, Brazil,

Canada, Colombia, the European Union, Germany, Japan, Mexico, South

Africa, the United Kingdom, and elsewhere. The Division also

cooperated with other competition agencies around the world on dozens

of criminal matters and in the civil non-merger arena as well. For

example, in the Division’s ongoing investigation of price-fixing in the air

1. For more information about the Antitrust Division’s international

program, see the international page on the Division’s website at http://

www.justice.gov/atr/public/international/.