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Competition authority raids: a new dawn?

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Dawn raids on modern workplaces are changing. Ludovica Pizzetti & William Radcliffe set out what businesses need to know
  • Sets out the latest trends in raids by competition authorities in different jurisdictions.
  • Explains how modern working practices affect liability for both companies and employees.

The scene of the crime. An FBI windbreaker, a door being broken down, a detective jaded by a broken system, shouting, ‘This is a raid!’ while furtive criminals rush to escape. Popular culture paints a vivid picture that springs to mind whenever discussing a ‘raid’. Though dawn raids by competition authorities lack such cinematic flair, they keep the drama. Even minor mistakes may snowball into significant fines.

Post-pandemic, dawn raids are back, and authorities around the world have not shied away from using their powers to the full extent.

Dawn raids continue to be daunting experiences: fast-moving and data-intensive processes that companies can never be sufficiently ready for, and where even the most trivial-seeming procedural irregularity carries a several-million-euro price tag, regardless

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NEWS
The Law Society RFC Festival of Sport returns next month, bringing together legal and financial services professionals for one of the sector’s largest annual sporting events
Legal aid deserts leave almost one in four without adequate access to justice
The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has warned solicitors and law firms that using artificial intelligence does not alter their professional obligations, amid concerns over inaccurate legal material and client confidentiality
From forgotten interest claims to case-management appeals, a string of procedural developments offers useful—and occasionally cautionary—lessons for practitioners

Jonathan Fisher KC highlights that it now accounts for around 40% of criminal offences, with roughly 70% involving technology, and argues that the UK cannot simply prosecute its way out of the problem. Detection, investigation and prosecution all require improvement, while different fraud types demand tailored responses.

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