Jonathan Kanter, Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division at the U.S. Department of Justice, kicked off the second annual Spring Enforcers Summit in Washington, DC, on March 27, 2023.

This summit included attendees from 30 global jurisdictions, 21 states, and the District of Columbia. The gathering serves as a vehicle for antitrust enforcement attorneys to meet, collaborate, and exchange ideas about the future path of antitrust enforcement. 

Kanter’s remarks were largely focused on the significant changes that have been occurring in the economic environment and the corresponding need to rethink traditional antitrust enforcement tools to keep pace with those changes. By way of example, he noted that competitive relationships were previously viewed as either vertical or horizontal, whereas today’s markets see multi-dimensional service platforms that include multiple parties engaged in complex relationships. Accordingly, in his view, as markets and relationships change, so must antitrust enforcement.

While Kanter’s remarks do not announce any new policy or enforcement priorities, it seems reasonable to conclude that the antitrust enforcement agencies are not planning to slow down and are actively attempting to develop new tools, strategies, and theories to use in future investigations and enforcement proceedings.

Moving forward, companies should regularly review their antitrust compliance protocols and processes to ensure that they remain up to date and consistent with current enforcement agency practice.

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