Too often we tend to assume that if we can write down a question – in a request for information – then business can write down the answer just as simply. (This is the second article in what I hope will be a series covering “Mistakes the Other Side Make”. For an introduction to the series see here. It says a lot about the European Commission that they allow me to publish articles that admit that not everything is perfect about how we work.) I’m guilty of this assumption. A few years ago I wrote a request for information to a company asking for a map of their entire corporate structure, together with background information on each company. The lawyer […]
Electronic documents change the way competition authorities search for documents when carrying out inspections. But that doesn’t mean that companies are worse off than before. In days past Commission officials on inspections occasionally found lever arch files labelled “Cartel Minutes”. Even in the last ten years, the Commission uncovered a cartel that operated on the basis of a written cartel agreement. This generous aid to the Commission’s investigations rarely happens today: cartelists have become more careful, and electronic documents have largely replaced paper ones. It’s this latter point that I want to touch on here. As companies have increasingly moved to electronic documents rather than paper ones, so Commission investigative practices have similarly had to move towards searching electronic evidence. […]
“Does the defence have anything to say in mitigation?” “Yes, my lord. Before robbing this bank, my client walked past three others, repeating to himself, ‘I must not rob banks.’ So he would like his sentence for robbing the fourth bank reduced on account of his not having robbed the first three.” “Really, counsel?” “Yes, my lord.” This is absurd, but it is very similar to a campaign by some multi-national corporations to reduce their – potential future – fines for breaking competition rules. The analogy isn’t perfect, but it’s closer than they would like. If a company has a competition compliance programme – they argue – then if they are nevertheless found to have broken the competition rules, their […]