The Danish Competition and Consumer Authority (DCCA) has officially ruled that recruitment and staffing firm JobTeam A/S violated the country’s Competition Act by actively resisting an unannounced dawn raid.
According to the regulator, a JobTeam employee methodically deleted more than 5,000 digital items—primarily emails—from the company’s internal IT systems while investigators were physically on-site conducting their search.
Extensive and Methodical Deletion
The DCCA has classified the incident as a severe, significant obstruction of justice. The authority noted that the data wiping was both extensive and targeted, with the process clearly showing that the deleted material was specifically chosen because it could be highly relevant to the antitrust investigation.
Stefan Kobbernagel, Head of Office at the DCCA, emphasized the critical nature of unannounced site visits in maintaining market integrity, stating that inspections are vital to antitrust enforcement because they frequently yield the conclusive evidence needed to prove anti-competitive behavior. Kobbernagel reminded corporate leaders that businesses face a strict statutory duty to cooperate during active investigations, and deleting any files once a probe has commenced is strictly illegal.
Despite the digital sabotage, JobTeam management did inform the DCCA team during the raid that an employee had begun deleting files after the inspectors had entered the building. Equipped with forensic tools, the regulatory team completed the site visit, secured a comprehensive data backup, and successfully reconstructed all 5,000+ wiped files to gain a complete overview of the hidden communications.
Pending Infringement and Fines
The original suspicion that triggered the unannounced raid remains entirely separate from the obstruction ruling. The DCCA clarified that it has not yet reached a final decision on whether JobTeam violated the Competition Act regarding the core market behavior it initially came to investigate. Following standard protocol, the watchdog will review the recovered data before choosing to either file formal antitrust charges or close the core investigation with an official warning.
However, the obstruction itself will carry heavy consequences. The DCCA has stated that JobTeam should be sanctioned with a substantial fine for neglecting its legal duty to allow a transparent inspection. JobTeam retains the right to appeal this obstruction ruling to the Competition Appeals Board or through the Danish courts. The final financial penalty will ultimately depend on the outcome of those legal proceedings should the firm choose to contest the decision.
