FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                    AT
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 1994                                  (202) 616-2771
                                                         TDD (202) 514-1888

          ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL ANNE K. BINGAMAN'S STATEMENT
             UPON THE PRESIDENT'S SIGNING OF THE INTERNATIONAL
                   ANTITRUST ENFORCEMENT ASSISTANCE ACT


     The International Antitrust Enforcement Assistance Act will
allow the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission
to cooperate with foreign antitrust authorities in international
antitrust enforcement, under agreements authorized by the Act.  
     The Department and the FTC have immediately begun to
implement the law by agreeing to enter into exploratory
discussions with the Canadian government, for the purpose of
developing an agreement allowing both countries to share and
obtain otherwise confidential civil investigative information and
evidence involving antitrust investigations.
     This Act is an important step in allowing U.S. antitrust
authorities to build upon our strong relationship with the
Canadian government.  If an agreement with Canada is concluded,
it will allow us to cooperate and exchange confidential
information in civil antitrust investigations and prosecutions,
just as we now do under our Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty with
Canada for criminal matters.  Under the MLAT, we have
successfully conducted our joint fax paper and plastic dinnerware
investigations and prosecutions with the Canadian antitrust
authorities.  We expect to meet with Canadian officials over the
next few months to develop an agreement that will enable both
countries to further strengthen the enforcement of their
respective antitrust laws.  The agreement would be similar to a
mutual legal assistance treaty.
     This Act also will allow the U.S. agencies to negotiate
agreements with other appropriate foreign antitrust authorities
to exchange confidential information, with necessary safeguards,
in both criminal and civil matters.   
     In the age of global commerce, international cartels and
transnational anticompetitive conduct that injure our consumers
and U.S. competitors are key targets of the Antitrust Division's
enforcement program.  Until now, the most significant obstacle to
our international enforcement efforts has been our limited
ability to get information and documents from outside the United
States in order to build a case that will stand up in court.  
     The new law has given the Division the firepower we need to
obtain the evidence abroad necessary to crack down on
international cartels, price fixing among U.S. firms at the
direction of their foreign parent companies and collusion among
foreign firms that significantly affects U.S. foreign and export
commerce.
     It will enable the Department and the Federal Trade
Commission to obtain evidence from foreign antitrust agencies by
authorizing the U.S. antitrust agencies to provide reciprocal
assistance where it is in the public interest to do so and where
foreign authorities will treat the information with the same
confidentiality as the U.S. agencies.
     I believe we will see an increase in the amount of
international cases brought by the Antitrust Division as a result
of this law, which gives us the necessary tools to enforce our
antitrust laws against international cartels which harm American
consumers and businesses.
     In the upcoming months, the Department of Justice and the
Federal Trade Commission, will begin discussions with other
foreign countries to develop and conclude additional agreements
under the new law.
                                    ###
94-635