Competition investigations in the digital age: adapting the rules to new tools but also to new risks

At a time when the revision of the European Procedural Regulation (EC) No. 1/2003 is underway, the Commission has set out initial ideas for developing its inspection powers so that they are ‘adapted to the challenges of the digital age’. However, digital tools have already changed the game, giving investigators greater powers of investigation and raising acute issues of privacy, which have recently been the subject of some notable court rulings. It would be prudent to take these concerns and emerging case law into account when revising the Regulation. In the meantime, companies should not hesitate to demand the necessary protection and, if they do not obtain it, to bring the matter before the competent courts.