BOOK IV: Free pricing and competition.

The officers mentioned in article L. 450-1 may operate on the public highway, enter between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. any premises used for business purposes and any premises where services are being provided, as well as gain access to any means of transport used for business purposes. They may also enter these same premises outside these hours when they are open to the public or when production, manufacturing, processing,…

When investigating or ascertaining an infringement or failure to comply with this book, the officers mentioned in Article L. 450-1 are authorised to identify the person they are controlling. If the person refuses or is unable to prove his or her identity, they shall immediately report this to any territorially competent judicial police officer, who may then carry out an identity check under the conditions set out in article 78-3…

I. – Where the establishment of proof of the infringement or breach depends on it and cannot be established otherwise, the officials mentioned in Article L. 450-1 may postpone the time at which they decline their status until at the latest the notification to the inspected person of the finding of the infringement or breach. II. – For the monitoring of the sale of goods and provision of services over…

I.-As an exception to the last two paragraphs of Article L. 450-3, for the purposes of investigating and establishing the offences and breaches provided for in Title II of this Book, access to data stored and processed by telecommunications operators, under the conditions and within the limits provided for in article L. 34-1 of the French Post and Electronic Communications Code, and by the service providers mentioned in 1 and…

The officers mentioned in article L. 450-1 may visit any premises and seize documents and any data media and, where applicable, the means of decrypting them, which may be held, accessible or available only in the context of investigations requested by the European Commission, the Minister for the Economy or the General Rapporteur of the Autorité de la Concurrence on a proposal from the Rapporteur, with judicial authorisation granted by…

The General Rapporteur of the Autorité de la concurrence shall be informed before they are launched of any investigations that the Minister responsible for the economy wishes to be carried out into facts likely to fall within the scope of Articles L. 420-1 to L. 420-2-2 and L. 420-5 or be contrary to measures taken pursuant to Article L. 410-3 and may, within a period set by decree, take over…

The rapporteur general shall designate, for the examination of each case, one or more agents of the investigating departments to the functions of rapporteur.At its written request, the authority to which the agents mentioned in II of Article L. 450-1 shall without delay place at its disposal, in the number and for the duration that it has indicated, the agents necessary to carry out the operations mentioned in Article L….

The agents mentioned in article L. 450-1 may, without being bound by professional secrecy, have access to any document or item of information held by State departments and establishments, the independent administrative authorities and independent public authorities mentioned in the annex to Law no. 2017-55 of 20 January 2017 on the general status of independent administrative authorities and independent public authorities, and other public bodies.

I. – Subject to the provisions of II, it is a criminal offence for anyone to oppose, in any way whatsoever, the performance of the duties entrusted to the agents referred to in II of Article L. 450-1 pursuant to this book, subject to two years’ imprisonment and a fine of €300,000. . II. – Where the objection relates to acts of the agents mentioned in II of Article L….

It shall be punishable by two years’ imprisonment and a fine of €300,000 for a natural person to oppose the performance of the duties entrusted to the agents mentioned in I of Article L. 450-1 pursuant to this book. .