Corporate & Securities Law

EU Antitrust Powers Not Enough for Dawn Raid?

By Manfred Gabriel

The EU Commission on Monday announced that it is investigating the French drug maker Sanofi-Aventis for obstruction of justice. As part of its crack-down on the pharmaceutical industry, the EU conducted a dawn raid at Sanofi-Aventis, but was refused access to documents without a French search warrant:

The commission’s allegation centers on Sanofi-Aventis’ refusal to let inspectors examine and copy relevant documents until the French authorities produced a national search warrant, the commission says. The European antitrust regulator was raiding the pharmaceutical company’s headquarters in France, as part of a wider inquiry into the sector. Under European antitrust laws, companies have an obligation to cooperate with the commission’s inspectors, including full access to important documents.

A press report is here.

Full post as published by Antitrust Review on June 05, 2008 (boomark / email).