Recent judgements of the General Court and the Supreme Court of the Slovak Republic in inspection matters – Landmark Decisions or Wasted Opportunities to Solve Problem?

• Main Author: Ondrej Blažo
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: University of Warsaw 2013-11-01
• Series: Yearbook of Antitrust and Regulatory Studies
• Online Access: https://yars.wz.uw.edu.pl/images/yars2013_6_8/261.pdf

On-the-spot investigations (inspections, dawn raids) are now an indispensable tool in the portfolio of a competition authority’s investigative powers. They constitute a very efficient method of seizing documents and accumulating information of an undertaking regarding its alleged anticompetitive behaviour – information that the undertaking would not normally be willing, or in fact obliged to provide because of the right of non self-incrimination. On the other hand, inspections are a rather “uncomfortable” intrusion into the private sphere of undertakings. As a result, the violation of the principle of the ‘inviolability of the home’ has become a common objection against inspections carried out by competition authorities. It is not the aim of this article to analyse differences, if any, between rights of natural and legal persons (undertakings) under human rights conventions and charters. For the purposes of this paper, the right of the ‘inviolability of the home’ shall be deemed to have the same content for both natural and legal persons. Inspections can thus be considered an invasion of the home. In order to be legal, three conditions must be met for an interference with the right to the protection of the private sphere by public bodies: the intrusion must be based on the law, it must have a lawful purpose and there must be protection against abuse.