LEGAL ALERT! – From 1 February 2014 the dawn-raids of the Romanian Competition Council and of the European Commission at the headquarters of the undertakings will be made only based on the prior authorization of a judge from the Bucharest Court of Appeal.

nikoadmin — Sat, 01 Feb 2014 19:59:08 +0000

As of February 1, 2014, once the new Criminal Procedure Code comes into force, the article 37 of the Competition Law no.21/1996, as republished and further amended, has been amended.
Further to the amendment, the dawn-raids will be performed by the competition authority at the head-quarters and in other commercial spaces of the undertakings only based on a warrant issued by the Bucharest Court of Appeal.
We remind that since the Competition Law was enacted in 1996 and up to the present such dawn-raids could be peformed at the headquarters of the undertakings only based on an administrative order of the President of the Competition Council.
For personal spaces – domiciles etc – the judicial warrant was already required since the Competition law came into force.
The existence of a judicial warrant will require the Romanian Competition Council increased attention in using the dawn-raids tool.
In the same time, the existence of the authorization of a judge will bring more force to the controls at the headquarters of the undertakings.
The legislative change requires the corresponding adaptation of the competition compliance programs of the undertakings.

Mircea and Partners | Criminal code

LEGAL ALERT! – From 1 February 2014 the dawn-raids of the Romanian Competition Council and of the European Commission at the headquarters of the undertakings will be made only based on the prior authorization of a judge from the Bucharest Court of Appeal.