EU ANTITRUST: HOT TOPICS & NEXT STEPS

EU ANTITRUST: HOT TOPICS & NEXT STEPS 2022

Prague, Czechia

is true that according to Credential No. 1 (in conjunction with § 21f para. 5 of the Act on the Protection of Competition), the local investigation should have taken place at the complainant’s premises at Starochodovská 41/68, Prague, but as already mentioned, the defendant’s requirements discussed here, even though in a certain sense they exceeded these precisely defined premises, were related to these premises and constituted, in the court’s opinion, an expression of cooperation pursuant to Section 21f(5) of the Act. Article 2(b) b) f ) of the Act on the Protection of Competition. The Court also takes note of this from the point of view of the “accessibility” of Mr. Mailbox N. from these premises. If the court were to accept the plaintiff’s interpretation, it would be easy for competitors to “extricate themselves” from the defendant’s investigative powers by placing their mailboxes, etc., in the infrastructure of another competitor and their communications being “transferred” there. In such a case, the defendant would have virtually no means of obtaining the necessary information (see the court’s interpretation of Sections 21e(2) and 21g(1) of the Competition Act).)”. (Judgment of the Regional Court in Brno, 29 A 183/2019) However, in terms of the scope of the inspection, in connection with the change in behavior and work habits during the COVID 19 pandemic, another practical question arises, namely, whether it is possible to carry out an inspection not only in the establishments, but also in the employees of the company under investigation who work from home? Solutions can be as follows. At this stage of the inspection, it is appropriate to divide the inspection into an investigation inside and outside the premises. Inspection in business premises is a fairly common phenomenon. Investigations outside business premises, for example, in employees’ apartments or passenger cars, are used very rarely. Outside business premises investigations must be very well reasoned and can only be carried out with the consent of a judicial authority. Changing the terms and conditions will also require changing and revising the existing rules for conducting your own raids at dawn. In the UK, for example, it is conducting a public consultation on changing the rules as part of the competition reform and considering strengthening the powers of a competition authority and extending its right to search national premises on the basis of a search warrant (Hastings, P. 2020). What can be assumed: • Increase in the number of inspections outside the premises, in the form of inspections of apartment buildings, personal technical equipment that serves work purposes and is not owned by the employer. An example is the inspection by the French competition authority, the Authority de la concurrence, of the investigation of competitors in the retail food market, where employees who were ordered to have a home office were investigated.

258