International Program

• Pages: 293-308

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CHAPTER XIII

INTERNATIONAL PROGRAM

The Antitrust Division has an international program that is overseen

by a Deputy Assistant Attorney General (DAAG) and carried out, at the

staff level, by the Foreign Commerce Section. Broadly speaking, the

purposes of the international program are to establish and maintain

working relationships with competition authorities in other countries, to

promote sound and effective antitrust enforcement through participation

in international organizations like the Organization for Economic Co-

Operation and Development (OECD) and the International Competition

Network (ICN), to insure that lawyers within the Division act in

accordance with U.S. foreign policy interests and comply with other

countries’ domestic laws, and to act as liaison to the State Department

and competition advocate before U.S. agencies with international

responsibilities.1

A. Organization

Within the Antitrust Division, the international program is overseen

by a DAAG and is carried out by the Foreign Commerce Section.2 In

2010, Assistant Attorney General Christine Varney created a new

position of Special Advisor on international matters within the Office of

the Assistant Attorney General.3

1. See Rachel Brandenburger, Special Advisor, Antitrust Div. U.S. Dep't of

Justice, Address at the Centre of European Law, King's College 2 (Oct.

29, 2010), available at http://www.justice.gov/atr/public/speeches/

270980.pdf.

2. See U.S. DEP’T OF JUSTICE,ANTITRUST DIV.MANUAL VII-32 (Dec. 2008)

[hereinafter ANTITRUST DIV.MANUAL], available at http://www.justice.

gov/atr/public/divisionmanual/atrdivman.pdf.

3. See Brandenburger, supra note 1, at 2. See also U.S. DEP’T OF JUSTICE,

THE ANTITRUST DIVISION'SINT’LPROGRAM 2 (Oct. 2010) [hereinafter

294 DOJ Civil Antitrust Practice and Procedure Manual

1. Deputy Assistant Attorney General for International Enforcement

The DAAG with overall responsibility for the Division’s

international program has the formal title, according to the Division’s

organization chart, of DAAG for International Enforcement.4 However,

in recent years, the practice at the Division has been to combine

responsibility for the international program with responsibility for

appellate and legal policy, and to have a single DAAG in charge of all

three. The Division’s organization chart has not been amended to reflect

the current practice.

The international DAAG’s precise responsibilities depend to a large

extent on the Assistant Attorney General (AAG) in charge at the time.

The responsibilities typically include heading or serving on committees

in international organizations,5 representing the Division in regional or

bilateral trade negotiations,6 and giving policy speeches abroad.7

However, the AAG has the option to assume some or all of these roles,

depending on his or her level of interest in international issues. The

DAAG reports to the AAG.8

ANTITRUST DIV.INT’LPROGRAM], available at

http://www.justice.gov/atr/public/ international/program.pdf.

4. Organizational Chart, ANTITRUST DIV.U.S.DEP'T OF JUSTICE

[hereinafter Org. Chart], http://www.justice.gov/atr/about/org.html.

5. See Charles A. James, Assistant Att’y Gen., Antitrust Div. U.S. Dep't of

Justice, Recent Developments and Future Challenges at the Antitrust

Division 15 (Sept. 17, 2002), available at http://www.justice.gov/atr/

public/speeches/200239.pdf (“The ICN . . . under the leadership of the

Antitrust Division’s Deputy Assistant Attorney General for International

Enforcement, a Merger Working Group is dealing with several aspects of

the difficult issues raised by multi-jurisdictional merger review, including

merger notification and review procedures, the various analytical

frameworks pursuant to which mergers are reviewed around the world,

and investigative techniques.”).

6. See William J. Kolasky, Deputy Assistant Att’y Gen., Antitrust Div. U.S.

Dep’t of Justice, Global Competition Convergence and Cooperation:

Looking Back and Looking Ahead 1-2 (Nov. 7, 2002), available at

http://www.justice.gov/atr/public/speeches/200442.pdf.

7. See William J. Kolasky, Deputy Assistant Att’y Gen., Antitrust Div. U.S.

Dep’t of Justice, Using Competition Policy to Promote International

Competitiveness, Seoul, Korea (Nov. 14, 2002), available at http://

www.justice.gov/atr/public/speeches/200485.pdf.

8. See Org. Chart,supra note 4.