U.S. Chamber Calls for Careful Consideration of Justice Department's Antitrust Report

Releases Paper on Policies to Guide Enforcement Against the Conduct of Single Firms

WASHINGTON, D.C.—The U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Global Regulatory Cooperation (GRC) Project today released a white paper urging U.S. antitrust regulators and the broader antitrust community to reevaluate the Department of Justice's Section 2 Report that analyzes the anti-competitive conduct of single firms.

"While some would like to see the Justice report vanquished, on its merits it is difficult to dismiss," said Sean Heather, executive director of the GRC Project. "However, we need cooperation and leadership among our federal agencies to make sure that enforcement policy of single firms is well supported by sound economic analysis."

The release of the report has been met with criticism from several Federal Trade Commission Commissioners. There has also been an active debate in the U.S. on whether there is a need for greater enforcement of the law that governs the conduct of single firms. The Chamber's white paper focuses on the policy that should guide enforcement and suggests that the Justice report represent a credible and worthy contribution to the debate. At a minimum, the Justice report should be carefully considered by antitrust agencies around the world as they continue to develop and refine their enforcement policies.

"With new leadership at Justice and at the FTC, the time has come for both agencies to work together," said Heather. "There are bound to be some differences of opinion with regard to complex questions surrounding the conduct of single firms, but the differences between Justice and the FTC have become overblown. The vast majority of the report represents an opportunity for consensus."

Since its inception two years ago, the Chamber's GRC Project has identified cooperation between international antitrust regulators as an issue of growing importance. This is because of the role that competition policy plays in ensuring that markets around the world not only are open to trade and investment but are also governed by policies promoting greater competition.

To view the white paper, visit: /sites/default/files/press/0903gcp.pdf

The U.S. Chamber is the world's largest business federation representing more than 3 million businesses and organizations of every size, sector, and region.

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