Request for records or search

According to Sec. 81a of the German Act Against Restrictions of Competition (GWB) undertakings have at the request of the Federal Cartel Office to provide the information and submit the documents which are required to assess the cartel fine. According to Sec. 81a(3), only natural persons and not undertakings have the right to refuse to provide information on the grounds of the risk of self-incrimination (nemo tenetur). In a decision of 23.01.2014 (KRB 48/13), the German Federal Court of Justice (BGH) ruled that the German Federal Cartel Office is not restricted to such a request for records, but can in the individual case also initiate a search of the undertaking, since it does not know which relevant documents exist at all and the undertaking would otherwise be in control of what it want to provide to the prosecuting authorities.