On 6 November 2025, the Austrian Federal Competition Authority (AFCA) applied to the Cartel Court to have a dawn raid ordered at a company engaged in the restoration, production and distribution of windows. On 17 November 2025, the Cartel Court ordered the dawn raid of the Company’s business premises, vehicles and business-related IT due to suspected horizontal agreements and/or the exchange of information. In addition, the Court ordered the search and seizure of documents and data through the creation of physical and electronic copies.
Specifically, there was reasonable suspicion of anti-competitive agreements and/or bid rigging and bogus offers between competitors in the area of window restoration, production and distribution. The AFCA carried out the search on 2 and 3 December 2025, seizing physical documents as well as IT data.
Appeal to Supreme Cartel Court
The Company argued in its appeal that there had been no reasonable grounds to justify the ordering of the dawn raid. It also claimed that the dawn raid had been neither necessary nor proportionate.
Supreme Cartel Court ruling
The Supreme Court confirmed the legality of the search warrant issued by the Cartel Court. It stated in particular that the prerequisites for issuing a search warrant had been fulfilled at the time of it being granting as it could be reasonably and plausibly concluded from the available facts that there were justified grounds to suspect a breach of cartel law. There did not have to be a “strong” suspicion of an offence or the establishment of a specific breach of cartel law.
The Supreme Court also stated that the dawn raid had been necessary to verify that the evidence was complete and to clarify the extent of the infringement, its duration and the circle of involved companies.
Ultimately, the Supreme Court ruled that the dawn raid had been proportionate. Authorities are entitled to take further evidence, in addition to the evidence already available to them, and to obtain information that enables them to ascertain more accurately the extent of the infringement, its duration and the circle of companies involved in it. In this context, they are also allowed to search for sources of information that they are not yet aware of.
OGH decision 16 Ok 1/26x (in German)
In 2022, the AFCA published an updated version of its Guidance on Dawn Raids (in German) here. A previous version from 2017 is also available in English and may be downloaded here.
At the request of the AFCA, the Cartel Court may issue a decision ordering a dawn raid in response to a strong initial suspicion of a breach of the ban on cartels, the abuse of a dominant position or the standstill obligation. Those concerned are entitled to appeal against the search warrant.