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CCCA_V6No1_DawnRaid-FIN_CCCA_V6No1_DawnRaid 2/13/12 10:10 PM Page 28 Cover What to do in the first hour John Pecman, the senior deputy commis- should ask to see the warrant, and them the location of electronic and physi- sioner of criminal matters at the Competition review it. cal documents. Make sure that the Bureau, offers one solid piece of advice to • Give the investigators a place to work. searches strictly follow the restrictions of companies facing dawn raids: Contact • A company’s first obligation is ensure the warrant. The warrant authorizes inves- counsel, in-house or outside, as soon as that the investigators have access to the tigators to search only certain premises, possible for appropriate and detailed legal premises. Because it is authorized by certain locations and certain things. advice. The Bureau will generally wait as the warrant, it is unlawful to obstruct • Counsel should review documents and long as 30-45 minutes for counsel to arrive. the investigation. files to be searched to ensure that they fall Beyond that, commerce officers will want to • At the outset of the search — and this is within the scope of the warrant. That will get on with their work. something that the Bureau often requests help stem a fishing expedition. — a document preservation notice bul- • Take notes as to what the investigators • When investigators arrive, they should be letin should be sent out company-wide or seized or copied. Better still, make copies of invited into the office of a senior person or office-wide to all employees, instructing documents that are going to be seized not into a boardroom. them not to delete, alter or dispose of any only because the documents in question • Call in-house counsel, and ask him or her electronic or physical data. might be needed for operational purposes to come to the premises immediately. • In-house counsel is typically expected to but you want to be able to understand what • Call external counsel with expertise in take command of the situation in terms of evidence the Bureau might have. competition matters. being the primary contact with the inves- • It is crucial to claim privilege over any doc- • If legal counsel can’t get there fast enough, tigators. Establish a good rapport. The uments that are privileged. The Bureau is a company official should ask to see the message you want to give is that you want normally co-operative. search warrant and obtain identification to co-operate. • Employees should be instructed to pro- from every person conducting the search • Counsel should brief company executives vide some level of assistance to investiga- to ensure both that they are who they say as soon as possible. tors. In practical terms, that means pro- they are and that the warrant covers them. • Counsel should monitor the search, viding passwords to certain folders or • Upon the arrival of counsel, the lawyer accompany the investigators, and show files that are authorized by the warrant. Raids matinaux issues raised by the Akzo Nobel Chemicals and Akcros Chemicals v Un juriste averti en vaut deux : l’effet de Commission and Others case. In a ruling that has stupefied counsel surprise demeure une arme efficace en on this side of the Atlantic, the European Commission refused to matière d’application de la loi. recognize attorney-client privilege for communications between in-house counsel and the company in a ruling that was affirmed ôt un lundi matin, vous recevez un appel du bureau. En by the European Union’s highest court. “Generally speaking Tpanique, l’une des gérantes de la compagnie vous dit que multi-jurisdictional dawn raids add a great deal of complexity to plusieurs personnes sont à la porte. Mandats de perquisition en the issue because there are different laws, different jurisdictions main, des représentants du Bureau de la concurrence demandent and different regulatory regimes involved,” says Kent, who has l’accès aux dossiers. Que faire? been involved in such situations. “That is the way of the world, Un scénario peu probable? Peut-être. Mais ceux qui ont fait and it is not going to change. Now it becomes a question of how l’objet d’une telle perquisition matinale vous diront que la possi- do you handle that, how do you prepare for it and how do you bilité est bel et bien réelle. manage it.” Cette méthode est communément utilisée par les autorités règle- Even without the prospect of having to deal with the scrutiny mentaires en général, et les agences de droit de la concurrence en of multi-jurisdictional regulators, it is in the best interests of a busi- particulier. Et pour une bonne raison : elle fonctionne. De tels raids ness — and its directors and officers — to implement an effective à l’aube surviennent presque toujours au moment où une compa- and individually tailored compliance program, assert both in-house gnie s’y attend le moins, au début d’une journée et souvent en début and outside counsel. “Without a compliance program, you open de semaine. Une équipe de 5 à 15 personnes se présentent à l’im- yourself up to much more exposure,” says Rod Frank, associate proviste à la réception d’un commerce, mandats en main. « C’est 28 CCCA Canadian Corporate Counsel Association SPRING 2012