Dawn Raids and the Role of Forensic IT in Antitrust Investigations

Abstract

While digital markets attract much attention of the antitrust community, important developments also take place in relation to the way antitrust investigations are handled and evidence is preserved. More and more enforcement actions of antitrust authorities rely on the ability to find and preserve digital evidence of an illegal activity. This article focuses on recent case law developments in relation to the approach to forensic IT in antitrust enforcement and investigates whether enough leeway is left to the antitrust authorities to properly discharge their powers. The article focuses on the procedural developments at the EU level and in one EU national jurisdiction, i.e. Poland. The article concludes that the current approach to forensics in antitrust does not allow to use available capabilities to a full extent. A proposal is made for an alternative approach, which would benefit effective antitrust enforcement and due process.

Keywords

• computer forensics
• dawn raids
• digital investigation
• due process
• evidence
• forensic it
• inspections
• searches