Bulgaria employs latest in dawn raid practices

Bulgaria

With competition authorities across Europe already probing communication over business chat tools as evidence, the Bulgarian Commission for the Protection of Competition (CPC) recently seized the contents of a real-time electronic messaging software or App during an unannounced inspection or dawn raid as part of an investigation into potential cartel infringement.

In this ongoing investigation, the CPC established that the managers of the raided company had exchanged messages via the App with managers of competing companies and had intentionally deleted certain messages to prevent their seizure by the CPC.

In this case, the CPC is investigating alleged bid rigging (i.e. collusive tendering) in a public procurement procedure for office consumables conducted by the Ministry of Finance. During the inspection, the CPC established clear signs that the raided company was trying to hide information. In addition to deleting messages, the company did not provide access to all its e-mail accounts, databases and systems, and caused a substantial delay of the inspection. As a consequence, on 6 October 2022 the CPC imposed a financial sanction on the company of approximately EUR 25,000 (BGN 50,000). Two employees of the raided company were also fined EUR 250 (BGN 500) each. The CPC decision imposing the fines is being appealed.

This case, one of the first dawn raid inspections in Bulgaria after the COVID-19 pandemic, highlights how the CPC is using modern state-of-the-art procedures for seizing information from business chat tools, along with the more traditional sources such as email, and electronic and hard copy documents. Hence, companies should employ care when using chat tools since this more informal way of communicating now poses greater risks from an anti-trust infringement perspective. Compliance programmes and policies should be amended to reflect that nearly every communication stored on a durable medium can be investigated, seized and used as evidence by competition authorities.

For more information on this case and on competition law and compliance policies in Bulgaria, contact your CMS client partner or local CMS experts Nevena Radlova and Ivan Petrov.