FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                             
      AT
THURSDAY, AUGUST 3, 1995                                    
(202) 616-2771
                                                         TDD
(202) 514-1888

          NEW ANTITRUST COOPERATION AGREEMENT SIGNED
               BETWEEN UNITED STATES AND CANADA


     WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Attorney General Janet Reno has signed a
new antitrust cooperation agreement between the United States and
Canada which will allow the two countries to significantly
enhance the coordination of antitrust law enforcement
investigations.  The agreement, which replaces a non-binding
agreement made in 1984, was also signed by Federal Trade
Commission Chairman Robert Pitofsky and Canadian Minister of
Industry John Manley.  The agreement becomes effective
immediately.
     The Department of Justice said the new agreement builds on
the successes that the Department's Antitrust Division and the
Canadian antitrust authorities have had in joint criminal price-
fixing investigations, including the plastic dinnerware and fax
paper cases.  These cases have resulted in numerous convictions
of firms and individuals, jail terms for key offenders, and many
millions of dollars in criminal fines--on both sides of the
border, the Department said.
     Attorney General Reno stated that, "This new agreement is a
significant step in further developing the close relationship
between the antitrust agencies of the United States and Canada. 
It is an important tool that can be used to protect consumers on
both sides of the world's longest border."
     The new agreement contains provisions for notification about
enforcement activities, enforcement cooperation and coordination,
conflict avoidance and consultations, application to certain
consumer protection laws, and confidentiality and use
limitations.  The Department said that these provisions, taken
together, provide a sound basis for enhanced cooperation, while
minimizing possible conflicts between the two nations'
enforcement activities.
     Highlights of the new agreement include:
     --  The parties acknowledge that it is in their mutual
interest to cooperate in antitrust enforcement generally.  In the
context of cooperation, the parties agree to exchange antitrust-
related information, consistent with existing confidentiality
constraints.

     --  In a "positive comity" provision, modelled on the 1991
U.S.-EU antitrust cooperation agreement, each party agrees to
give serious consideration to a request by the other party to
take antitrust enforcement action against illegal conduct within
its jurisdiction that injures the requesting party's important
interests.

     --  Each party will notify the other of antitrust actions
that might affect the important interests of the other.  In order
to minimize possible conflicts arising out of antitrust
enforcement actions, the parties agree to give careful
consideration to one another's important interests in conducting
enforcement activities.  The parties will also consult each other
upon request.

     --  Each party agrees to maintain the confidentiality of
sensitive information provided by the other party.

     Anne K. Bingaman, Assistant Attorney General in charge of
the Antitrust Division, said, "With this new agreement's emphasis
on law enforcement cooperation, the time has come when persons
who prey upon American and Canadian consumers must know that
their anticompetitive activities cannot prosper simply because
U.S. and Canadian authorities are unable to cooperate in
investigating and prosecuting illegal antitrust conduct"
occurring in the two countries.      
     The agreement does not change existing law, and is not a
comprehensive antitrust mutual legal assistance agreement of the
sort permitted by the International Antitrust Assistance Act of
1994, approved overwhelmingly by Congress and signed by President
Clinton last November.  
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95-428