The European Commission has announced it carried out dawn raids on 17 June on the premises of companies in the fashion industry in relation to suspected competition law infringements.

There has been a lull in dawn raid activity by competition authorities during the Covid-19 pandemic but these types of raids are clearly now being carried out again, albeit - as stressed by the Commission in this case – “conducted in compliance with all coronavirus health and safety protocols to ensure the security of those involved”.

The Commission has not yet given any details on what type of conduct the suspected infringements relate to other than being under the prohibition on anti-competitive agreements (Article 101), i.e. the provision under which cartels are tackled.

It is not yet known whether the CMA has carried out any parallel dawn raids here in the UK. However, albeit unrelated to the above investigation and competition law, the CMA has confirmed it has started investigations in the fashion retail sector regarding possible cases of non-compliance with the recent CMA guidance on environmental claims. It is understood these investigations are carried out under consumer protection laws. As reported here, the government is proposing to significantly strengthen the CMA’s enforcement powers in relation to consumer protection laws in due course, in some respects mirroring the CMA’s competition law powers.