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Guidelines

For inspection by Bulgarian Competition Authorities

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What documents must the officials present?

Bulgarian Competition Authorities
 

  • The Bulgarian Commission for Protection of Competition may conduct surprise inspections (the so-called “dawn raids”) of undertakings and associations of undertakings with view to collecting information on alleged breaches of the competition rules.
  • The officials must present a Ruling issued by Administrative Court – Sofia-region (warrant for a dawn raid) specifying the exact name of the undertaking and a mandate (issued by the chairman of the Bulgarian Commission for Protection of Competition). The warrant refers to all premisses, cars and other objects of this undertaking.Note: The officials need a separate Ruling in order to search the private premises of managers and other employees of the undertaking.
  • Check the Ruling and the mandate very carefully about:
    • Is your company specified as the one subject to the inspection?
    • What are the allegations against the company, i.e. the scope of the inspection (e.g. alleged involvement in cartel activities on a given market at a given point in time)? What are the reasons for the inspection?
    • Are the officials who are conducting the inspection those listed in the mandate?
  • If the officials are not in a position to present a search warrant or a mandate, kindly ask them to await the arrival of your external antitrust counsel. Do the same if the search warrant does not concern your company or (some of) the officials conducting the inspection are not those listed in the mandate.

Where and how may the officials search?

Bulgarian Competition Authorities
 

  • Seat the investigators in a document-free room and kindly ask them to wait until you organise yourself. If there is no in-house lawyer on site, you should ask the officials to wait until s/he or external antitrust counsel arrives. 
  • Cooperate to the extent required. You are legally obliged to submit to inspection. 
  • The officials have the legal powers to: 
    • Enter and search the company’s premises and vehicles; 
    • Review, copy and retain relevant documents, in either hard copy or electronic form, irrespective of whether they contain business secrets; 
    • Ask for explanations of facts and documents; 
    • Seal the company’s premises, vehicles and document storage facilities. 
       

What may the officials search?

Bulgarian Competition Authorities

Most important

  • Inform the staff of their legal obligation to cooperate with (and not obstruct) the investigation and not to destroy any information in hard copy or electronic form.  
  •  Do not volunteer information or documents. Provide only what the officials specifically request.  

Documents

  • Closely observe what documents the officials review and copy. Check every such document for relevance to the scope of the audit and for legal privilege (the protection that covers communications between outside counsel and the undertaking). 
  • If the document is irrelevant to the scope of the audit or legally privileged, insist on the document not being reviewed or copied. If the officials disagree, immediately involve your outside antitrust counsel in the discussions.  
  • Make copies of all the documents (in hard or electronic copy) that they take away. Have the officials assign a reference number to each document and certify it first, then make the copy. 
  • The officials may take away hard and soft copies of documents, as well as originals if copies cannot be made. 

IT environment and other objects

  • The officials may search laptops, desktops, tablets, mobile phones, CD-ROM, DVD, USB-key, cloud services, etc. for relevant data. However, do not allow the officials to inspect computers if legally privileged or irrelevant documents may be stored on them. If this is the case, insist that the issue is brought to the attention of your outside antitrust counsel. 
  • The Commission for Protection of Competition often makes forensic images of entire servers. In this way, legally privileged or irrelevant documents may be taken away. If the officials wish to make forensic copies in the course of the inspection, ask them to await your external antitrust counsel’s arrival and contact him/her immediately. 
  • If the officials search electronic data, note the search terms used.  

Protocols regarding seizure of documents and objects/Seals

  • The officials must keep protocols relating to the seizure of documents and objects and present you with the protocols for signing. Prior to signing, review the protocol for accuracy and completeness and insist on amendments if needed. Ask for one copy of each protocol signed.  
  • Make sure that all seals mounted on doors of premises, vehicles or cupboards/boxes remain untouched. Explicitly instruct the staff to that effect (e.g. by e-mail). Clearly indicate that the seal should not be removed or even attempted to be removed. Consider closing off the area around the sealed premises or objects. 

Who may be questioned by the officials and how?

Bulgarian Competition Authorities

The officials may seek explanations of facts and documents from the management and all employees of the company. 

  • Answer only factual questions about the documents searched. Do not respond to questions beyond that without having a lawyer present. 
  • If you do not understand the official’s question, kindly ask him/her to paraphrase it. 
  • Beware not to incriminate the company, i.e. to admit an infringement of competition rules. Carefully contemplate the questions posed prior to answering them. If you are unsure of and unclear about some aspect, consult your outside antitrust counsel first. 
  • Keep answers to the officials’ questions concise and strictly to the point. Do not share views, interpret or assess facts or circumstances. 
  • Note all questions asked by the officials and the answers given, any specific points or observations and issues that need to be further clarified in writing. 
  • You may ask the officials to draw a protocol of the interview and present it to you for signing. Prior to signing, review the protocol for accuracy and completeness and request the amendments needed. Ask for a copy of the signed protocol. 
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