US, Canada, Mexico Reaffirm Antitrust Cooperation

by Glen Shapiro, LawAndTax-News.com, New York

23 December 2011

The heads of the antitrust agencies of the United States, Canada and Mexico met recently in Mexico to reaffirm their commitment to effective enforcement cooperation.

The US Federal Trade Commission Chairman Jon Leibowitz, Acting Assistant Attorney General Sharis Pozen of the US Department of Justice's Antitrust Division, Canadian Commissioner of Competition Melanie Aitken, and President Eduardo Perez Motta of the Mexican Federal Competition Commission were at the meeting.

Among the enforcement and policy issues they discussed were updates on merger policy and enforcement in the three jurisdictions and the sharing of recent experience in areas of mutual enforcement interest.

The three countries are parties to a series of bilateral antitrust cooperation agreements that commit their antitrust agencies to cooperate and coordinate in order to make their antitrust policies and enforcement as consistent and effective as possible. They also are parties to the North American Free Trade Agreement, which includes a competition chapter that provides for cooperation among them in antitrust investigations.

"Today's talks confirmed, yet again, the breadth of the common values and approaches that we share with our Canadian and Mexican colleagues, and the benefits of our agencies' cooperation to consumers and businesses in the region and globally," Leibowitz said.

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