"Competition Authority risks losing power to conduct searches" (with Gonçalo Anastácio and Sara Estima Martins)

Gonçalo Anastácio, head of SRS Legal's EU and Competition Department argues that "the recent rulings of the Constitutional Court do not require a change in the Competition Law. However, Competition law could be adjusted for clarification in line with the recent rulings of the Constitutional Court. Sara Estima Martins, partner of the same department at SRS Legal, adds that "the Competition Law gives AdC the margin to request the warrant from the appropriate judicial authority, depending on the case. Thus, intending to include electronic correspondence in its searches, the PCA could (and should) have requested the warrants from the investigating judge and not from the Public Prosecutor. In this sense, we can say that AdC made an incorrect interpretation of the Competition Act, as determined by the TC.