Dawn Raids Under Czech Law Violate Right To Respect For Private Life

On 2 October 2014, the European Court of Human Rights ("ECtHR") ruled that a dawn raid conducted in 2003 by the Czech Competition Authority (the "Authority") pursuant to Czech law was contrary to the right to respect for private life under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights ("ECHR").

In 2003, the Authority carried out a dawn raid in the premises of Delta Pakerny (the "Company"), a bakery investigated in relation to a probe into an alleged cartel in the bakery sector. During the course of the investigations, the Company's management refused to give the Authority access to various folders stored on the employees' computers on the grounds that they contained private information.