French Competition Law provides a comprehensive review of the French rules relating to competition: restrictive agreements, commercial negotiation, abuses of a dominant position, procedure and merger control.

French Competition Law

The application is made to the juge des libertés et de la détention (freedoms and detention judge) of the judicial court with jurisdiction over the area where the premises are located . It should include any information that justifies the search . However, the Administration is not obliged to disclose all the documents at its disposal to the court, especially when it has not been established that  …

Content of application

The application is made to the juge des libertés et de la détention (freedoms and detention judge) of the judicial court with jurisdiction over the area where the premises are located . It should include any information that justifies the search . However, the Administration is not obliged to disclose all the documents at its disposal to the court, especially when it has not been established that it has concealed exculpatory evidence . The Administration is free to choose the materials it will present in support of its request for authorization, since the judge may, if he or she considers that insufficient information has been provided, request additional documents, and full access to the file may be exercised in the event that proceedings are initiated during the jurisdictional phase .

Such evidence must be lawfully obtained . Anonymous declarations , where they are drawn up and countersigned by the investigating agents and where they are corroborated by other factors  or evidence legally seized in another case   or in the context of a referral for an opinion  can be used. On the other hand, documents obtained under a search warrant that was subsequently cancelled are not lawfully seized and cannot therefore be used as a basis for an application for authorization to search the premises of another undertaking . Article L. 450-4 relaxes this requirement to allow for flagrante delicto requests, which only require information that allows the judge to presume the offense is currently in progress.

As Ordinance No 2004/1173 of 4 November 2004 adapting certain provisions of the Commercial Code to Community competition law did not amend Article L. 450-4 of the Commercial Code on this point, the rules of exclusive jurisdiction set out in Article L. 420-7 of the Commercial Code do not determine the jurisdiction of the court that authorizes the search: Cass. com., 25 April 2007, LawLex200700000682JBJ.

Cass. crim., 18 December 2019, LawLex201900001589JBJ et LawLex201900001590JBJ, holding that to allow the freedoms and detention judge to verify whether the application for authorization is justified, all the information in the applicant's possession which could justify the raid must be attached to the application for authorization, as missing elements cannot be added before the first president of the Court of Appeal.

CA Paris, 30 October 2013, LawLex201300001580JBJ; 8 November 2017, LawLex201700001852JBJ: the fact that a previous transaction, during which information on which the claim was based was submitted, was challenged before the court, is not an exculpatory element; Cass. crim., 11 July 2017, LawLex201700001240JBJ; CA Versailles, 28 June 2018, LawLex201800000999JBJ.

Cass. crim., 21 March 2018, LawLex201800000505JBJ; CA Versailles, 28 June 2018, LawLex201800000999JBJ.

Cass. com., 27 November 1991, LawLex200200003001JBJ.

No legislation provides for the establishment of a non-anonymized version when anonymous statements are collected, nor does it require the liberties and detention judge to verify the existence and identity of the person making the statement: see Cass. crim., 3 June 2025, LawLex202500004811JBJ.

Cass. com., 26 October 1993, LawLex200200003000JBJ; CA Paris, 13 December 2001, LawLex200200002282JBJ,  according to which an anonymous statement made by telephone may be indicative of anticompetitive practices; Cass. crim. 28 June 2017, LawLex201700001167JBJ; Cf. in the absence of any corroborating evidence, CA Douai, 22 February 2018, LawLex201800000357JBJ and LawLex201800000365JBJ; Cass. crim., 18 December 2019, LawLex201900001589JBJ, LawLex201900001590JBJ and LawLex201900001591JBJ holding that an anonymous statement corroborated only by anonymized summaries of letters and e-mails submitted by the person making the statement does not allow the judge to ascertain the reality of its content and cannot in itself justify the issuing of an authorization, even if the officials of the Administration had access to the non-anonymized versions of the documents. See also: Cass. crim., 3 June 2025, LawLex202500004811JBJ, in which the Court ruled that the judge, who must ensure that the presumptions resulting from the information produced to justify the visit are adequate, may refer to anonymous statements, which under Article L. 450-2 of the Commercial Code does not require them to be recorded in minutes, insofar as they are presented to the judge in documents drawn up and signed by officials of the Administration enabling their content to be assessed and are corroborated by other evidence.

Cass. com., 10 March 1992, LawLex200200003003JBJ; 6 April 1993, LawLex200200002538JBJ; 12 July 1993, LawLex200200002996JBJ; 21 March 2000.

Cass. crim., 11 July 2017, LawLex201700001237JBJ.

CA Paris, 8 July 2020, LawLex202000001720JBJ.

French Competition Law

412. Content of application

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Les notions juridiques connexes

412. Content of application

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Les décisions de justice citées dans ce paragraphe :

Les notions juridiques connexes

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