Corporate Governance

DOJ and FTC Disagree on Antitrust

By Fei-Lu Qian

Immediately after the Justice Department released its 215-page report laying a broad framework on antitrust enforcement, three of the four Federal Trade commissioners have come out and criticized the new policy as ?a blueprint for radically weakened enforcement? against anticompetitive practices. Moreover, the commissioners said the DOJ?s policy would allow monopolies to act ?with impunity? and ?would make it nearly impossible to prosecute a case.? Even the Chairman of the FTC who was appointed by President Bush added that the guidelines lacked historical context.

The DOJ?s new guidelines should not be a surprise to anyone as the DOJ in the last eight years has only prosecuted one case against a company on anticompetitive grounds. Critics of the new guidelines believe that the Bush administration wants to make formal pro-business rules concerning antitrust issues before leaving the White House.

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Full post as published by PomTalk on September 10, 2008 (boomark / email).