7-3.100
Office of the Assistant Attorney General
|
The Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Antitrust Division is
the Division's chief representative and is responsible for leadership and
oversight of all the Division's programs and policies. The Assistant
Attorney General is assisted by five Deputy Assistant Attorneys General, of
equal rank, and by the Director of Operations. The specific organizational
units subordinate to each Deputy Assistant Attorney General are illustrated
on the Division's organizational chart at USAM
7-3.200.
7-3.200
Organizational Chart
|
The organizational chart for the Antitrust Division is posted at
http://www.usdoj.gov/atr/org.htm.
[cited in
USAM 7-3.100]
7-3.300
Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Criminal Enforcement
|
The Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Criminal Enforcement in the
Antitrust Division has direct supervisory responsibility for the Division's
criminal investigations and litigation. The Deputy assigns criminal
investigations and cases to particular Division sections or field offices
based upon the commodity or service at issue, the geographical area
involved, the type of violation, and the availability of resources. In
addition, the Deputy arranges for the provision of FBI support services for
investigations relating to antitrust matters.
7-3.400
Office of Operations
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The Office of Operations has direct supervisory responsibility for the
Division's civil investigations and litigation. The Director and Deputy
Director of Operations assign investigations, cases, and other civil matters
to particular Division sections or field offices based upon the commodity or
service at issue, the geographical area involved, the type of violation, and
the availability of resources. The Office of Operations also acts as the
Division's chief liaison with the Federal Trade Commission. In addition,
the Office of Operations processes all Freedom of Information Act requests
relating to antitrust matters.
7-3.500
Washington General Litigation Sections
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The Antitrust Division has two general litigating sections based in
Washington: Litigation I and Litigation II. Each has responsibility
nationwide for commercial activities affecting specified groups of
commodities.
These two sections are primarily concerned with criminal and civil
violations of antitrust laws that affect national or multi-regional markets.
They handle significant mergers and acquisitions, major civil investigations
in which structural relief, such as divestiture, is anticipated, and
conspiracies of regional or national scope.
7-3.600
Specialized Sections
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The Division's remaining Washington sections have somewhat more
specialized duties. The Professions and Intellectual Property Section, for
example, is responsible for investigating and prosecuting all violations of
the antitrust laws that involve questions of patent, trademark, and
copyright abuse. This section also has jurisdiction over the professions
(including health care), drug commodities, labor, newspapers and motion
pictures.
Two sections—the Transportation, Energy, and Agriculture Section and
the Communications and Finance Section—investigate and litigate antitrust
violations, appear in proceedings before regulatory agencies to advocate
competitive policies, and prepare reports to other federal agencies and to
Congress on competitive issues. The Transportation, Energy and Agriculture
Section, as its name implies, handles Division functions, including civil
litigation, relating to energy, transportation, and all agricultural
industries. The Communications and Finance Section is responsible for the
fields of banking, finance, securities, and communications, including
telecommunications.
The Foreign Commerce Section is primarily responsible for the
development of Division policy on issues of foreign trade and international
antitrust enforcement. The Section also monitors and participates in
competition-related proceedings at the International Trade Commission,
handles legislation relating to foreign competition, deals with
international organizations concerning problems of competition, and
coordinates the implementation of the Export Trading Company Act of 1982 and
the International Antitrust Enforcement Assistance Act of 1994 on behalf of
the Division.
The Economic Litigation Section, Economic Regulatory Section and
Competition Policy Section, collectively the Economic Analysis Group or EAG,
provide economic advice to the Assistant Attorney General and policy
assistance to the Division's enforcement programs and competition advocacy
activities. Economists serve as economic and statistical expert witnesses
in trial and regulatory proceedings and are assigned to most enforcement
matters, assisting in them from the initial investigative stage through
final resolution.
Other specialized sections and offices include the Appellate Section,
which handles all appeals arising from civil and criminal cases brought by
the United States under the federal antitrust laws, as well as all amicus
filings in antitrust cases, and the Legal Policy Section, which prepares
legal analyses of new or unusually difficult issues of antitrust law that
arise in statutory enforcement or regulatory agency proceedings and is
responsible for handling all legislative matters.
7-3.700
Field offices
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At present, there are seven regional field offices of the Antitrust
Division, located in Atlanta, Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas, New York,
Philadelphia, and San Francisco. See
Antitrust Resource Manual at 2, Addresses and
Territories. These offices are primarily responsible for the prosecution of
criminal activities that constitute per se violations of the Sherman Act,
and for other antitrust violations (including those pertaining to mergers
and monopolies) that have local or regional impact.
It is expected that most antitrust complaints or problems coming to the
attention of the United States Attorneys will fall within the jurisdiction
of the Antitrust Division's field offices. For this reason, the field
offices will ordinarily be the appropriate contact points for United States
Attorneys on antitrust matters.
[cited in
USAM 7-1.100;
USAM 7-5.100;
USAM 7-5.230]
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