Alliance: Get ready for a Dawn Raid – Dawn Raid Policy

A dawn raid is an unannounced inspection of a company's premises by state authorities as part of an ongoing investigation. It can affect any company, regardless of size and industry. The search may concern not only the company's activities themselves, but also situations related to contractors or third parties.

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What is a Dawn Raid?

Due to the wide scope of inspections, it is necessary to implement a simple and clear dawn raid policy in your organization, to appoint people responsible for the efficient coordination of inspection activities and to provide appropriate training for your staff.

Dawn Raid Policy - What you should be aware of

The dawn raid policy should be a clear and comprehensive procedure for employees, especially those who may be the first to have contact with the inspectors.

The policy should be relevant to the nature and operations of the organization. However, in our experience, there are some common elements that should be included in each policy.

Inspection team

The organization should have clearly designated persons (board members, managers or external advisors) responsible for participating in and coordinating the inspection and related activities, the so-called inspection team.

Start of the inspection

However, it is usually the reception or security staff who are the first to have direct contact with the inspectors. In this situation, they should remain calm and professional and follow simple instructions.

Arrival of the inspectors is one of the most important and at the same time most difficult moments for the organization. The first few minutes will verify whether the procedure has been implemented effectively.

First, let the inspectors into the company, accompany them into a meeting room and inform the relevant people from the inspection team immediately.

A simple list of people to contact will be helpful at this stage. This list should include the name, position and direct contact number of each person.

Identification of inspectors and the search warrant

The relevant persons should identify the inspectors and check their details, work ID and the search warrant.

Check if the search warrant is addressed at the correct company name and address.

The search warrant should indicate the scope of the inspection. This means that the dawn raid should take place within the limits of the search warrant and should not go beyond its scope.

Provide the inspectors with red visitor badges indicating them as “inspector”.

Behaviour of staff

Each member of staff should remain calm and professional during the inspection and not perform any activities that could negatively affect the organization or even themselves.

In particular, it is not allowed to:

  • prohibit or delay the entry of inspectors;
  • hide or destroy documents;
  • delete electronic files;
  • providing false information;
  • going beyond the scope of the inspection;
  • breaking a seal;
  • obstructing the inspection.

Keep in mind that all mobile phones are usually subject to inspection. If your private mobile phone has no business-related content it is likely that inspector will make quick verification to see if it is really free from business content. Rejection of showing private mobile phone may be considered as an obstructing a search.

The personnel should be properly trained and have the opportunity to contact a lawyer in case of doubts regarding the lawfulness of the inspection.

Watch the inspectors' hands

Each inspector should be accompanied by a member of the dawn raid team or designated personnel (“shadow”) during the inspection.

These shadows need to continuously monitor and document:

  • what documents, media or resources the inspector has looked at and/or reviewed;
  • what equipment, rooms or areas the inspector has inspected;
  • what questions were asked by the auditor to specific persons and what answers were given to these questions;
  • what keywords and search terms were used during their search of electronic files.

Involvement of the IT department

Cooperation with the IT department is also essential. Companies should ensure the participation of IT specialists during the inspection. The presence of a person with IT system administrator rights may be necessary to ensure that the inspectors have access to the data to be searched and potentially collected.

In addition, the presence of an employee specialized on IT reduces the risk of external interference and threats to the company's computer system.

External legal support in case of on site interviews

Should inspectors start trying to make use of their interrogatory powers beyond organisational questions ask them to wait until external counsel is present.

Summary

The Dawn Raid Policy should correspond to the company's specifications. Of course, having such a procedure is not enough. It is necessary to systematically improve the preparation of the personnel and provide trainings on dawn raids.

Staying calm during an inspection is also ensured by the possibility of contacting and receiving support from external lawyers. They will help to clarify any questions regarding the dawn raid and provide the necessary explanations regarding the respective legal provisions.



Autor: Christina Hummer
Autor: Bartłomiej Sordyl