In recent years, U.S. antitrust authorities have paid increased attention to the international aspects of antitrust enforcement. Other examples include the 1992 Horizontal Merger Guidelines that were issued jointly by the Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission, and the draft Guidelines for the Licensing and Acquisition of Intellectual Property on which public comments were invited in August 1994 and in which we are currently considering revisions in light of the comments received.
Guidelines are statements of enforcement policy.
They are issued to advise the business and legal communities and others of the antitrust agencies' policies and methods of analysis. Although the agencies naturally intend these Guidelines to be an accurate reflection of law and policy at the time they are issued, the Guidelines themselves are not binding on the courts, private parties, or the agencies themselves. Justice Department guidelines for international antitrust were previously published in 1977 and 1988. A draft of revised Antitrust Enforcement Guidelines for International Operations, which will supersede the 1988 version, was published with an invitation for comments on October 19, 1994. Earlier versions were issued solely by the Department of Justice.