The US Department of Justice announced on July 11 that when
organizations implement programs specifically to ensure antitrust
compliance, these programmes will now be rewarded in the Antitrust
Divisions' decisions regarding enforcement of criminal
antitrust. For the first time, the Division will consider
compliance at the charging stage in criminal antitrust
investigations, a change which is reflected in the Justice Manual.
The Division also announced revisions to its Manual and published a
document to guide prosecutors' evaluation of corporate
compliance programs at the charging and sentencing
stage.1
Assistant Attorney General Delrahim stated, "In an ideal
world, corporate compliance programs prevent wrongdoing altogether.
If violations do occur, robust compliance programs should lead to
prompt detection, which not only nips the conduct in the bud
earlier, minimizing the harm to consumers, but also gives companies
the greatest chance of winning the race for