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In a continuation of the downward trend seen in 2017, cartel fine totals declined again in 2018 in both the United States and abroad. The Department of Justice imposed only two corporate fines in fiscal year 2018, totaling a mere $96 million, while the European Commission imposed fines totaling $927 million. This trend held consistent across most countries, with notable exceptions including Brazil, which imposed over $389 million in fines in 2018 stemming largely from settlements with construction firms involved with the Petrobras bid-rigging scheme, and Germany, which imposed over $435 million in fines in 2018 compared to approximately $76 million in 2017.

Though the fine totals indicate a slower-than-average year, antitrust regulators were busy promoting cross-border cooperation on antitrust enforcement. For example, Department of Justice and European Commission officials each completed a spree of meetings with their counterparts in countries like South Korea, China, Europe and India, and antitrust regulators from Brazil, Mexico, Peru, Argentina and Chile developed a set of shared principles designed to harmonize and guide the implementation of leniency programs across Latin America. These and other regulators continued to emphasize international engagement as a top priority of antitrust enforcement.

Download the 2018 Global Cartel Enforcement Report»