Obstructing a competition investigation: a €900,000 fine for the Loste group

[Flash] Obstruction of an investigation by the charcuterie group Loste fined €900,000 by the French Competition Authority (ADLC).

The ADLC has just imposed a very significant fine on the Loste group for its conduct during dawn raids carried out at its Paris premises and at those of the French federation of charcuterie, delicatessen and meat-processing manufacturers (FICT).

In this case, the ADLC sanctions:

• first, the fact that one of the group’s legal directors said its chief executive was absent when she had met him on the premises to tell him the ADLC officials were there, and
• second, the fact that the group’s chief executive, also vice-president of the FICT, simultaneously claimed to be in the United Kingdom, which, as you will have gathered, he was not…

During a dawn raid you do not lie! You may ask to remain silent or to defer an answer where there are legitimate grounds. You can and must always pay close attention to what you say. But you hide nothing, you do not manoeuvre, and so you do not lie…

Companies subject to an investigative measure (such as a dawn raid) must cooperate fully and in particular refrain from giving the competent authority’s officials (whether the ADLC or the European Commission) incomplete or inaccurate information. To justify this significant fine, the ADLC found that the conduct “necessarily created a risk of loss or alteration of evidence” and “may have compromised the effectiveness of the investigators’ work”.

A robust compliance programme, including risk mapping, tailored staff training on competition rules and the support of specialist lawyers when a raid takes place, is essential to minimise the associated risks.

Defining and formalising processes to minimise exposure to competition law upstream and prepare for a possible investigation downstream: Rive Gauche Avocats, a compliance specialist, supports its clients, companies and trade associations, with a cost/benefit approach that combines this work as far as possible with their other regulatory obligations (Sapin II, etc.).