[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 2 (Thursday, January 7, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E51]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


  INTRODUCTION OF THE PROTECT AMERICAN JOBS THROUGH THE FOREIGN TRADE 
             ANTITRUST IMPROVEMENTS AMENDMENTS ACT OF 1999

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. JOHN CONYERS, JR.

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, January 6, 1999

  Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to join with my colleague, 
Commerce Committee Ranking member John Dingell, in introducing today 
the ``Protect American Jobs Through the Foreign Trade Antitrust 
Improvements Amendments Act of 1999.'' This bill clarifies one of our 
most important U.S. antitrust laws in order to enshrine the principle 
that U.S. law reaches anti-competitive foreign cartels, acts, and 
conspiracies designed to unfairly exclude American products from 
overseas markets. The principle aim of my bill is to codify the U.S. 
Department of Justice's current and correct interpretation of the 
Foreign Trade Anti-trust Improvements Act (``FTAIA'') which is embodied 
in footnote 62 of the International Antitrust Guidelines. The footnote 
makes it clear that there are no unnecessary jurisdictional or legal 
roadblocks to challenging anti-competitive acts and conspiracies that 
take place outside our borders.
  We live in an era of economic globalization. Today, America's 
prosperity depends, not just on vigorous competition within our 
territorial borders, but on free and fair access to markets in Japan, 
Europe, Africa, Latin America, China, Russia, and a host of other 
countries. Anti-competitive practices that block foreign markets to 
U.S. exporters are just as much a threat to the U.S. economy, as the 
purely domestic cartels and combinations that the Sherman Act sought to 
address at the turn of the century.
  The opening of global markets has advanced America's current economic 
prosperity, but it also poses fundamental challenges for U.S. antitrust 
laws. One example is the U.S. flat glass industry. For the better part 
of a decade, America's leading flat glass producers have been seeking 
access to the Japanese market, the biggest and richest in Asia. This 
isn't a situation where America doesn't have a good product, American 
companies are leaders in producing and selling high-quality innovative 
glass products around the world; and in fact, have succeeded in Europe, 
Asia, the Middle East, Latin America, but not Japan. The fact is that 
securing distribution effective channels for American glass products 
has not proved to be a significant barrier to entry in any country but 
Japan.
  My bill aims to address this situation by making an important 
clarification in the U.S. antitrust laws that govern jurisdiction over 
foreign firms. It does not change U.S. antitrust law. Instead, it is 
designed to codify and clarify U.S. antitrust doctrine. Although most 
observers would agree that the FTAIA established conclusively that DOJ 
and U.S. firms have jurisdiction to bring an antitrust case against 
foreign firms engaged in anti-competitive conduct that harms U.S. 
exporters, enforcement officials misinterpreted the law and said so in 
a footnote to the International Antitrust Guidelines. That footnote--
footnote 159--created a higher burden for U.S. exporters than Congress 
intended by requiring that they show harm to U.S. consumers in order to 
get their day in court. The bill would ensure that the will of Congress 
and the plain meaning of the FTAIA could never again be misconstrued by 
the federal antitrust agencies, a foreign litigant or a U.S. court. In 
doing so, it would assist in breaking down anti-competitive foreign 
barriers to U.S. exports.

  While the correction to Footnote 159 was drafted by Assistant 
Attorney General Jim Rill in the Bush Administration, it has been fully 
endorsed by the Clinton Administration. I commend Assistant Attorney 
Generals Rill, Bingman, and Klein for their strong leadership in 
strengthening international antitrust enforcement and for bringing 
cases under the authority of the FTAIA.
  By clarifying the jurisdictional requirements of the FTAIA, I hope to 
encourage the Department of Justice and injured industries to make any 
necessary use of this important power by challenging cartels, such as 
those blocking distribution of the U.S. courts, before U.S. juries, 
under U.S. law.
  My bill makes a simple and straightforward point. Anti-competitive 
foreign cartels and conspiracies are subject to the long arm of U.S. 
antitrust law. Foreign producers can run...but they can't hide. The 
global economy may be a reality, but U.S. law applies fully to anti-
competitive international cartels, combinations and conspiracies.
  This bill already has the support of industry leaders, including 
Kodak, PP&G Industries, and Guardian International Corporation, and the 
National Association of Manufacturers. I look forward to working with 
other interested parties to bring U.S. law into a new era of 
international economic globalization, and to ensure that American firms 
and workers have a timely and effective remedy against those who engage 
in anti-competitive acts designed to exclude American products or 
services from the international marketplace.

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