On 15 October 2025, the General Court handed down its judgment in Red Bull v Commission, deciding on whether to uphold the Commission’s 2023 decision to carry out an on-site inspection at the energy drink producer. Commenting on the case for Courthouse News, Vicky Robertson highlighted that there have been an increasing number of challenges to Commission decisions initiating dawn raids in recent times, perhaps due to a successful appeal in 2023. In this case, however, the General Court fully upheld the Commission decision, finding that the competition authority had relied on sufficient evidence to warrant an inspection. The Court also emphasised that the surprise element was an important aspect of dawn raids, which could be jeopardised if the authority were to make requests for information or conduct interviews before carrying out a dawn raid. You can access the case reporting here and the General Court’s judgment here.
