The EU Court of Human Rights rules that French dawn raids breached fundamental rights (Vinci / GTM)

The European Court of Human Rights (the “ECtHR”) has ruled in the Vinci case that the circumstances surrounding the electronic removal of documents and computer files during a dawn raid violated two companies’ privacy rights enshrined in the European Convention on Human Rights (“ECHR”) [1]. The case is part of a growing trend where the ECtHR and EU courts have been asked to scrutinize the powers of competition authorities throughout Europe to conduct dawn raids in light of fundamental rights. The judgment underscores the need for effective judicial review of competition inspections, to protect companies against overly broad “fishing expeditions”. The case concerned a dawn raid