Watchdog says ruling needed in wake of increase of remote working
The Competition and Markets Authority has successfully challenged a ruling which said it couldn鈥檛 be given a warrant to search a domestic property as part of a cartel investigation.
The High Court said the the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) 鈥渆rred in law鈥� when it refused to grant the CMA a warrant to enter the property.
Last October, the CMA applied for warrants to search business and domestic premises as part of its investigation into suspected anti-competitive conduct regarding the supply of chemical admixtures for use in the construction industry.
While the CAT granted warrants authorising the CMA to search three business premises in England and Scotland, it refused the warrant regarding the domestic property.
The CMA said it was 鈥渃oncerned that the CAT鈥檚 decision would damage its ability to gather the necessary evidence to effectively investigate and enforce against secret cartels鈥� and applied for a judicial review at the end of last year.
It added: 鈥淭he High Court agreed with the CMA that the CAT had made an error in its application of the law 鈥� namely, that it was incorrect to state that specific evidence of a 鈥榩ropensity鈥� to destroy electronic or physical documents was always required for a domestic search warrant, and that the CAT鈥檚 judgment should not therefore be followed in future cases.鈥�
CMA chief executive Sarah Cardell added: 鈥淲ith the increase in remote working 鈥� and electronic communication 鈥� it鈥檚 essential that we are able to search domestic premises to secure evidence of potential breaches of competition law where appropriate to do so.鈥�
The CMA, which last year fined 10 demolition firms 拢60m for their involvement in a cartel, is investigating eight housebuilders over alleged anti-competitive behaviour.
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