FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                          AT
THURSDAY, APRIL 17, 1997                           (202) 616-2771
                                               TDD (202) 514-1888


             INTERNATIONAL ENFORCEMENT TO BE BOOSTED
                 BY NEW AGREEMENT WITH AUSTRALIA


  First-Ever Antitrust Mutual Assistance Agreement Under New Law
                                             

     WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Acting for the first time under a 1994
statute designed to strengthen international antitrust
enforcement, the United States today reached a proposed agreement
with Australia to exchange evidence and assist each other's
antitrust investigative efforts, announced Attorney General Janet
Reno and Federal Trade Commission Chairman Robert Pitofsky.

     Under the agreement, the countries would exchange evidence
on a reciprocal basis for use in antitrust enforcement, and
assist each other in obtaining evidence located in the other's
country, while assuring that confidential information be
protected.  

     If finalized, the agreement would be the first agreement
signed under the International Antitrust Enforcement Assistance
Act of 1994.

     "This agreement is a significant step in improving antitrust
enforcement in today's global economy," said Attorney General
Janet Reno.  "In antitrust, as in so many other areas of law
enforcement, bilateral mutual assistance agreements play a
crucial role in protecting U.S. citizens and enforcing U.S.
laws." 
     
     In mid-1994, the Justice Department asked Congress to enact
the International Antitrust Enforcement Assistance Act in order
to improve the United States' ability to obtain foreign-located
evidence in antitrust matters.  Congress responded quickly, on a
bipartisan basis, and President Clinton signed the Act into law
in late 1994. 
 
     The proposed agreement builds on a U.S.-Australia antitrust
cooperation agreement signed in 1982, and on a close relationship
that has developed over the years between the Department and the
Federal Trade Commission, and the Australian Competition &
Consumer Commission.  

     "Going after international cartels is high on the Antitrust
Division's agenda," said Joel I. Klein, Acting Assistant Attorney
General in charge of the Department's Antitrust Division.  "In
some instances, our ability to prosecute illegal cartel behavior
has been thwarted because we lacked mutual assistance agreements
with other countries.

     "This new agreement will greatly assist the Antitrust
Division's law enforcement activities, and we look forward to
strengthening our partnership with the Australian authorities in
the fight against international cartels and other anticompetitive
conduct," Klein added.


     Highlights of the proposed agreement include:

     -- The U.S. and Australia undertake "to assist one another
and to cooperate on a reciprocal basis in providing or obtaining
antitrust" evidence, through a wide variety of means, pursuant to
their respective mutual assistance legislation, and regardless of
whether the conduct underlying a request would violate the laws
of the requested party.  The agreement provides for assistance in
both civil and criminal antitrust matters.

     -- Evidence obtained under the proposed agreement would be
used only for antitrust enforcement purposes, except in certain
narrow circumstances consistent with the Act.  Before turning
over evidence, a party must determine if executing the request
would be consistent with its public interest.  The agreement also
provides that nothing in it "compels a person to provide
antitrust evidence in violation of any legally applicable right
or privilege."

     -- All Australian requests for assistance will be channelled
through the Department, as required by the Act.  However,
requests may be executed by either the Department or the FTC (or
both), as appropriate.  Both the Department and the FTC may make
requests for assistance directly to the Australian Competition
and Consumer Commission (ACCC), and U.S. requests will be
executed by the ACCC, the Attorney General's Department, or both,
as appropriate.  

     -- Reflecting Congress' concern with maintaining the
confidentiality of sensitive business information that might be
exchanged pursuant to the Act, the agreement contains strict
confidentiality requirements that will protect such information.

     Klein said that today's agreement will serve as a model for
similar bilateral agreements with major trading partners around
the world in order to deal effectively with anticompetitive
behavior that occurs on an international scale.

     The agreement shows that the U.S. is committed to two-way
cooperation with foreign counterparts, which is in the interest
of American consumers and theirs, Klein added.

     The International Antitrust Enforcement Assistance Act
requires that the Department publish the proposed agreement in
the Federal Register and request public comment in writing during
a 45-day period.  During that time, the Australian government
will send the proposed agreement to the Australian States and
Territories for their comments.  At the conclusion of those two
processes, the U.S. and Australia will determine whether to enter
into the agreement as published.         
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