Justice Dept. to Boost Antitrust Staff Devoted to Global Competition

Posted by Bloomberg

Justice Dept. to Boost Antitrust Staff Devoted to Global Competition

By Liz Crampton

The new head of the Justice Department’s antitrust division used his first official public appearance to promise to reshuffle resources to concentrate on international cooperation.

Makan Delrahim, the assistant attorney general for the DOJ’s antitrust division, said Oct. 27 the department will increase the ranks of attorneys working under Deputy Assistant Attorney General Roger Alford. Delrahim has tapped Alford to confront trade and international antitrust issues. Although the department generally can expect “belt-tightening” in funding, Delrahim said he will make sure the international section “has all the resources it needs.”

Delrahim said the proliferation of competition regimes around the world has brought new challenges because regulators have different views about what constitutes sound antitrust enforcement. The EU has targeted big companies like Google Inc. and Apple Inc., while Taiwan recently fined Qualcomm Inc. NT$23.4 billion ($773 million) for how it prices mobile phone chips and patents.

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