The White & Case Dawn Raid Analysis Quarterly (DRAQ) is an information and discussion resource regarding surprise on-the-spot inspections by antitrust authorities (dawn raids) across Europe. DRAQ provides updates on recent case law, enforcement activity and trends.
Q4 2024 at a glance
In the last quarter of 2024, European competition authorities carried out a total of 17 dawn raids, two less than in the same period in 2023.
The DRAQ now contains statistics of dawn raids carried out by the Czech Competition Authority. The Czech authority was the most active in Q4 2024 followed by the Polish competition authority, with four and three dawn raids each, respectively. The most targeted sector in Q4 was the consumer goods sector.
Outlook for 2025:
- The Director of the Cartels Directorate at DG COMP, Maria Jaspers, has signaled that 2025 will see an uptick in cartel infringement decisions. She indicated that a focus of the EC’s cartel unit will be cases concerning unlawful exchange of information, including collusions facilitated by automated tools and algorithms. The EC is currently investigating a consultancy in the tire sector, which was dawn raided in June 2024. The subject of the investigation is whether the consultancy firm may have facilitated disclosure of commercially sensitive information.
- In January 2025, it was reported that Red Bull had filed a claim with the General Court for costs (EUR 345,000) from the EC which the company allegedly incurred when an antitrust inspection at its Austrian premises was transferred to Brussels. This is in addition to another claim lodged in May 2023 in which Red Bull is challenging the dawn raid inspection itself, in particular on the basis that the inspectors copied a large amount of information and did not take sufficient steps to protect personal data. The exact grounds of the company’s appeal are expected to be published in the coming months. The case number is T-682/24.
We provide more statistics below on the number of raids and the sectors impacted, including a country-by-country list, available through our Interactive Dawn Raid map.
Key Q4 2024 legal developments
Below is a selection of key developments in Q4 2024:
- No-poach agreements on the EC's radar
- Joint Italian Irish dawn raid - the Italian Council of State dismisses Ryanair's appeal
- Strengthened dawn raid powers in the UK
No-poach agreements on the EC's radar
In November 2024, the European Commission (EC) conducted dawn raids at the premises of companies involved in constructing data centers. The EC is investigating possible collusion in the form of no-poach agreements in breach of Article 101 (1) TFEU. This is the second EC dawn raid in relation to labour related arrangements, the first being conducted in 2023 in the online food delivery sector. The most recent dawn raid underlines the EC's interest in pursuing labour related arrangements under EU competition law.
DG COMP's focus on labour related arrangements is relatively new and follows a trend from the United States where such arrangements have been pursued already for a few years. In 2021, the former Commissioner for Competition, Margrethe Vestager, announced that no-poach and wage-fixing agreements are high on the EC's agenda. In May 2024, the EC published a Policy Brief on labour markets. No-poach agreements have already been scrutinised by EU national competition authorities in various sectors, including those in Belgium (private security sector), Denmark (banking), France (engineering, technology consulting, and IT service sectors), Finland (healthcare), Hungary (HR consultants), Lithuania (real estate agencies, basketball clubs), Portugal (technology consulting, sports clubs), Romania (automotive sector), and Spain (private schools). For more details see our White & Case heatmap of antitrust and labour developments. In the Policy Brief, the EC explains how it classifies no-poach clauses under EU competition law and is currently the main source of information on the issue. In a nutshell, the EC makes clear that no-poach arrangements are "by object" restrictions of EU competition law. The EC's default position seems to be that no-poach clauses are unlikely to meet requirements to qualify as ancillary restraints or be exempted under Article 101 (3) TFEU, unless under specific conditions. For more details see here. The EC's approach is yet to be tested by EU courts. Later this year, the Court of Justice of the EU might provide a first guidance in the context of a reference for preliminary ruling from a Portuguese court regarding no-poach agreements between football clubs (C-33/24).
The Policy Brief and the recent dawn raid serve as a warning message for companies doing business in the EU and internationally: it is vital to ensure that legal and HR departments are fully familiar with competition law compliance in this sphere.
Joint Italian Irish dawn raid - the Italian Council of State dismisses Ryanair's appeal
On 29 November 2024, the Italian Council of State ("Council of State") dismissed the appeal filed by Ryanair against the Italian Competition Authority's ("ICA") request for assistance from the Irish Competition Authority ("CCPC") in the execution of a joint dawn raid carried out by the ICA and the CCPC at the airline premises in Dublin.
On 14 September 2023, the ICA initiated an investigation (No. A568) for alleged abuse of dominance by Ryanair in the Italian market. The ICA sought cooperation from the CCPC pursuant to Article 22 (1) of Council Regulation (EC) No. 1/2003 (Regulation 1). Ryanair applied to the Italian Tribunale Amministrativo Regionale in Rome ("TAR") for the annulment of the request, by contesting the legitimacy of the jointly conducted dawn raid.
The goal of Ryanair's action was to preclude the ICA from being able "to process, consult, view, use, copy and/or transmit to third parties all Ryanair documents seized". According to Ryanair, there was no formal approval of the request to the CCPC by ICA’s Board, and there was insufficient motivation underlying the request. In particular, Ryanair alleged violation of Article 10 (1) of the Presidential Decree No. 217/1998, according to which "The Board shall authorize inspections proposed by the offices to anyone deemed to be in possession of business records useful for the purpose of the investigation. With respect to public administrations, the production of documents shall be requested in advance."
On 22 May 2024, the TAR upheld Ryanair’s interlocutory application and suspended the challenged act. The suspension was also confirmed by precautionary order No. 4540 of October 10, 2024. However, the ICA challenged both the decree and the order before the Council of State which agreed with the ICA and dismissed Ryanair’s challenge of the joint dawn raid.
According to the ruling of the Council of State:
- The mere request for cooperation under Article 22 (1) of Regulation 1 is not capable of affecting the concerned party, who can only be affected by the subsequent acts by which a national authority lends its cooperation.
- The protection of the investigated party is conferred by the law of the State to which the requested authority belongs.
- In this case, the Irish courts are the only courts that may determine the lawfulness of the joint dawn raid under the applicable Irish legislative provisions.
- The ICA's request to the CCPC to inspect Ryanair's Dublin premises did not necessitate a formal approval by the ICA's Board. This is because requests under Article 22 (1) of Regulation 1 are subject solely to verification of their compliance with relevant legal standards under Regulation 1 (namely, identification of the subject matter of the inspection). As Regulation 1 does not require the ICA's Board authorization, and the ICA specified the subject matter of the dawn raid, the relevant legal standards were respected.
- The requirements of legal privilege appear to be guaranteed by the agreement between Ryanair and CCPC, which entails the seizure by the ICA of only non-privileged material, or at least documents where privileged content has been omitted.
The legality of the joint dawn raid will now be considered by the Irish courts, to which Ryanair has already addressed arguments. There is no certainty that the Irish courts will reach the same conclusions as the Council of State and the risk of potentially conflicting judgments cannot be excluded.
At a broader level, it should be noted that Article 22 (1) of Regulation 1 does not expressly regulate whether the assisting authority (i.e., the authority which materially carries out the inspection) can allow officials of the requesting authority (i.e., the authority which carries out the investigation and requests the assisting authority to carry out the inspection on its behalf) to personally attend and participate in the inspection. This issue is governed by the national legislation of each Member State, and this could cause a great degree of divergence, especially when it comes to identifying the legal basis and the nature of such cooperation, as well as the extent of the powers of the officials of the requesting authority.
The matter now returns to the TAR, which may seek a preliminary ruling by the European Court of Justice on the interpretation of Article 22 (1) of Regulation 1.
Strengthened dawn raid powers in the UK
The UK's Digital Markets, Competition, and Consumers Act (the Act), which came into force on 1 January 2025, has strengthened the powers of the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to conduct dawn raids. The CMA has new powers to:
- "seize and sift" evidence when conducting dawn raids of domestic premises. This power enables the inspectors to take materials when it would not be practical to decide on site which documents to take. The CMA had these "seize and sift" powers with respect to business premises, but the Act now extends these powers to domestic premises. This extension to domestic premises is particularly significant in the context of current remote-working policies.
- obtain and access electronic information held off-premises (e.g., in the cloud) during inspections carried out under a warrant.
- operate equipment found on the premises for the purposes of producing information.
For a complete overview of the Act and the CMA's new guidance relating to it, please see our alert here.
Interactive Dawn Raid map
Hover over the highlighted countries to get a closer look at the enforcement activity of the respective National Competition Authorities since 2021.
Austria2024
2023
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Belgium2024
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Bulgaria2024
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Croatia2024
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Cyprus2023
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Czech Republic2024
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Denmark2023
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Estonia
Finland2024
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France2024
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Germany2024
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Greece2024
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Hungary2023
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Ireland2024
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Italy2024
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Latvia
Lithuania
Luxembourg2024
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Netherlands2023
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Norway2023
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Poland2024
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Portugal2024
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Romania2024
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Slovakia2024
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Slovenia2024
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Spain2024
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Sweden2023
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Switzerland2024
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United Kingdom2023
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A look at the statistics
The information below has been sourced from LexisPSL, and is based on dawn raids that have been publicly announced by competition authorities. The LexisPSL information was supplemented from selected public sources in jurisdictions where further information was available. Since not all competition authorities announce every dawn raid, the data below likely underestimate the number of raids. The sector charts reflect dawn raids in which the sectors were identified by the competent authorities. In some jurisdictions (e.g., Germany or Czech Republic), the authority publishes the number of raids without identifying the sector. As a result, the statistics in the charts below may underestimate the actual number of dawn raids by sector and country. The statistics displayed for the Czech Republic are available only as of 2021.
View full image: Number of dawn raids per year in the EU, Switzerland and the UK, 2018 – 2024 (PDF)
View full image: Dawn raid leader board (PDF)
View full image: Number of dawn raids per year and during 2018 – 2024 in the EU, plus (PDF) Switzerland and the UK (PDF)
View full image: Dawn raid tracker by sector: EU plus Switzerland and the UK, 2018 – 2024 (PDF)
View full image: Dawn raids tracker by sector: EU plus Switzerland and the UK, 2023 and 2024
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This article is prepared for the general information of interested persons. It is not, and does not attempt to be, comprehensive in nature. Due to the general nature of its content, it should not be regarded as legal advice.
