Dutch Competition Authority Cannot Engage In "Fishing Expeditions", Says Dutch Court

On 5 October 2012, President of The Hague District Court ruled in interim proceedings that the Dutch Competition Authority ("NMa") cannot order third parties to provide information incriminating undertakings against which the NMa has insufficient information to initiate competition law infringement proceedings.

In the case at hand, the NMa had conducted a dawn raid at the premises of an undertaking subject to a cartel investigation. During the inspection, the NMa discovered a report prepared by an IT firm specialised in competition law audits. The report indicated that competition law infringements had taken place, but the underlying evidence was no longer available within the company. The NMa subsequently turned to the IT firm that had conducted the audits and ordered it not only to provide the underlying evidence, but also to produce a list of undertakings in the same industry for which it had carried out competition law compliance audits in the previous five