On 6 April 2016, Judge Barrett of the Irish High Court ruled
that the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC)
unlawfully seized entire email accounts during a 2015 dawn raid.
This ruling was on a challenge by the raided company of the
seizure of the entire email account of an employee who it argued
was not involved, at the relevant times, in the company under
investigation by the CCPC. At present, there is no Irish
statutory mechanism or regulatory guidance on the handling of
records seized at a dawn raid.
The Court agreed with the raided company that irrelevant records
were likely seized and that this was not permitted by the warrant
authorising the raid or the CCPC's statutory powers. The
statutory power of seizure is very broadly drafted, in that its
only express limitation is that seizure must be "necessary for
the performance by the Authority of any of its functions".
In interpreting this limitation, Judge Barrett held that the
CCPC was obliged
