[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 139 (Wednesday, September 30, 2009)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2402]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  INTRODUCING LEGISLATION AUTHORIZING THE FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION TO 
         CONDUCT INTERNATIONAL TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE ACTIVITIES

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                          HON. EDOLPHUS TOWNS-

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                     Wednesday, September 30, 2009

  Mr. TOWNS. Madam Speaker, I am pleased today to join my friend and 
colleague from Kentucky, Congressman Whitfield, in introducing 
legislation authorizing the Federal Trade Commission to conduct 
international technical assistance activities.
  On April 2, 2007, The Antitrust Modernization Commission, a non-
partisan Commission established by an act of Congress, submitted a 
report to Congress and the President, containing a comprehensive set of 
recommendations for modernization of our nation's antitrust laws. 
Included in the report was a recommendation that Congress ``provide 
budgetary authority, as well as appropriations, directly to the Federal 
Trade Commission and the Antitrust Division of the Department of 
Justice to provide international antitrust technical assistance.''
  While recognizing that progress has been made toward convergence, or 
standardization, of antitrust laws from country-to-country, in 
discussing the need for Congress to authorize and fund technical 
assistance activities, the Commission pointed to three primary reasons 
for the need of for a sustained technical assistance program. The 
Commission concluded that: ``First, companies may be subject to 
conflicting and inconsistent laws, creating uncertainty as to the legal 
standards applicable to their business arrangements. Second, companies 
must comply with the procedural requirements of multiple jurisdictions, 
potentially increasing their costs significantly, particularly with 
respect to notification requirements for mergers. Third, different 
countries may ultimately impose different, and inconsistent, remedies 
with respect to the same conduct or transaction.''
  Technical assistance programming involves sending antitrust experts 
from U.S. agencies with institutional expertise in the regulation and 
enforcement of antitrust laws to foreign capitols to provide guidance 
and consultation to their foreign counterparts in the development, 
implementation and enforcement of antitrust law.
  As noted in the Antitrust Modernization Commission Report, ``the DoJ 
and FTC provide extensive technical assistance to nascent competition 
law regimes.'' Funding for such technical assistance programming is 
derived from USAID. USAID, a foreign aid agency of the Department of 
State, has as its mission to foster democracy, economic growth and 
human health in developing nations through a variety of means, 
including food aid, infrastructure construction, training, and 
technical assistance across a number of public policy and legal areas, 
including competition policy. As the Commission notes, ``FTC and DoJ 
requests for limited USAID funding to support antitrust training 
efforts accordingly compete with others' demands for basic needs such 
as food and healthcare support.''
  As a result of these competing demands, technical assistance funding 
to DoJ and the FTC is severely limited and inconsistent from year-to-
year. The limited and inconsistent nature of USAID funding for 
technical assistance presents unique challenges for the agencies 
involved. According to a University of Missouri study by D. Daniel 
Sokol and Kyle W. Stiegert, entitled ``An Empirical Evaluation of Long 
Term Advisors and Short Term Interventions in Technical Assistance'' 
there are generally two types of technical assistance activities, long 
term advisors (LTA) and short term interventions (STI). ``LTAs are 
advisors that spend an extended time period working in-country with a 
recipient antitrust agency. STIs are technical assistance interventions 
based on a ``discrete set of issues including concentrated programs 
that simulate investigations of competition cases, training for judges, 
or other inputs.'' Both approaches involve the commitment of highly 
skilled and specialized agency staff. Absent a clear and dedicated 
funding source for technical assistance activities, agencies are 
reluctant to commit such resources to building out a robust technical 
assistance program and to dedicate staff to technical assistance 
activities.
  There are other limitations inherent in USAID as the funding source 
for technical assistance activities that are driven primarily by the 
mission and foreign aid restrictions placed on the agency. By 
definition, USAID's mission is to work with emerging democracies and 
economies. While this mission is important, the countries that receive 
foreign assistance from USAID, including technical assistance training 
in whatever form, generally are not those where U.S. businesses are 
increasingly encountering problems with domestic barriers to entry for 
trade--countries such as Brazil, India, South Korea and China, which 
are deemed to be too developed to qualify for USAID assistance. China 
exemplifies another limitation on use of USAID funding for technical 
assistance. Because of the nature of Chinese government, it is illegal 
to provide US foreign aid to China. As a result, even if USAID was 
inclined to provide funding for technical assistance programming in 
China, it would be prohibited by law from doing so.
  With the rapid proliferation of antitrust enforcement regimes around 
the globe, the future of international commerce is no longer about 
classic market access issues like tariffs and quotas. The debate is 
increasingly about divergent regulations and other so-called ``in-
country barriers'' to trade. These in-country barriers to entry make it 
increasingly difficult for U.S. companies to compete effectively around 
the world. While technical assistance training, alone, will not solve 
these highly complex problems, its approach, based on trust building, 
education and cooperation, represents one very important tool to 
addressing the challenge of international standardization of antitrust 
laws and competition policy regimes.

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