Dawn Raid (On-Site Inspection)

A dawn raid is the examination by Competition Authority case handlers, under Article 15 of Law No. 4054, of a company’s books, documents and electronic data at its premises, the copying of that material and requests for oral or written explanations from employees. Because inspections usually start unannounced, early in the morning, they are called “dawn raids”. Many cartel investigations begin with a dawn raid.

Powers of Case Handlers

The 2020 amendment to the Law and the Board’s Guidelines on the Examination of Digital Data during On-site Inspections expressly provide for case handlers’ power to examine and take copies of all data in physical and electronic form. Servers, computers, phones, external storage, backups and cloud services all fall within scope. Case handlers present an authorisation document stating the subject matter and purpose of the inspection.

The Biggest Risk: Obstruction

Obstructing or hindering a dawn raid is fined regardless of whether a competition infringement is found: the company may be fined five per thousand of its annual gross revenue and, after the period set by the Board expires, a further five per ten thousand for each day (administrative fines). Deleting data after the inspection has started is treated as obstruction even if the content is personal or is technically recovered.

Preparation

Mistakes made on the day of the inspection often have more serious consequences than the infringement itself. For the step-by-step process from preparation to the aftermath and a printable checklist, see our On-Site Inspection (Dawn Raid) Preparation Guide.