The historic goal of antitrust laws is to protect economic freedom and opportunity by promoting competition in the marketplace. Competition in a free market benefits consumers through lower prices, better quality, and greater choice. It provides businesses the opportunity to compete on price and quality in an open market unhampered by anti-competitive restraints.

In the United States, antitrust investigations and enforcement are managed jointly by two agencies, the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Justice Department and the independent Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Often, one or the other agency takes the lead in a merger evaluation or antitrust investigation because it has more experience in an area. For example, in the recent merger of the British Petroleum and Amoco oil corporations, the FTC took the lead because of its greater experience in managing oil company mergers. Because the two agencies have parallel jurisdiction to investigate mergers and conduct that may be anti-competitive, a clearance procedure has been developed to promptly allocate individual matters between the two agencies. Other federal agencies become involved in evaluating mergers in industries they regulate -- such as the Department of Transportation for airline mergers and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for telecommunications mergers.

The mission of the Justice Department's Antitrust Division is to promote and protect competition through enforcement of antitrust laws, which apply to every level of business in the United States in virtually all industries, including manufacturing, transportation, distribution, and marketing. Those laws prohibit practices that restrain trade, such as price-fixing conspiracies, corporate mergers likely to reduce competition in particular markets, and predatory practices designed to drive competitors out of business.

The Antitrust Division prosecutes violations of antitrust laws by filing criminal cases that can lead to fines of as much as $10 million against corporations, $350,000 against others, and up to three years in prison for individuals, or a combination of fines and imprisonment. Under the Sherman Act the department can also seek treble (triple) damages against a corporation or individual if the U.S. government is the purchaser of the affected goods or services.

Where criminal prosecution is not appropriate, the division institutes a civil action seeking a court order forbidding future violations of the law and requiring steps to remedy the anti-competitive effects of past violations. The division's work relies on cooperation with U.S. state attorneys general and, more and more, with foreign antitrust enforcement agencies.

With a mandate for promoting fair trade, the Federal Trade Commission oversees antitrust policy for the United States by enforcing a variety of federal antitrust and consumer protection laws to ensure that U.S. markets function competitively, vigorously, efficiently, and free of undue restrictions. While the commission works in conjunction with Justice's Antitrust Division, it is an independent agency. The FTC can seek a court order prohibiting future violations of the law and may in some instances impose fines.

The FTC also works to enhance smooth operation in the marketplace by eliminating practices that are unfair or deceptive, practices that threaten consumers' opportunities to exercise informed choice. It performs economic analysis to support its enforcement of the laws and to contribute to policy deliberations by federal, state, and local governments. In addition, the commission maintains programs to educate consumers about the laws it administers.