Economic Administration Controls (Fraud Repression or DGCCRF)

You are the subject of a fraud control (DGCCRF, DIRECCTE, DDPP or DDCSPP) or have just been informed by the latter of a future control.

Faced with this situation, you need to:

Put in place a methodology to respond effectively to this control,
Prepare your interlocutors,
Respond to notifications,
Challenge any visit operations and sanctions.

What are the powers of the economic administration (and in particular the Directorate General for Competition, Consumer Affairs and the Repression of Fraud or DGCCRF) in the event of control?

The Economic Administration (DGCCRF at the national level, DIRECCTE in the regions, DDPP, DDCSPP under the direction of the Prefect at the departmental level, these bodies being all responsible for the repression of fraud) is endowed with investigative powers to monitor the compliance of company practices with the Consumer Code, the law of unfair commercial practices (deceptive or aggressive commercial practices), the rules relating to safety and the conformity of products and services.

Find here our thematic file on the investigations of the competition authority and the DGCCRF.

What sanctions are incurred after a fraud repression control ( DGCCRF)?

Depending on the type of breach, the company may:

be summoned with a view to the pronouncement of a civil penalty (fine, nullity of contractual clauses, etc.).
A report may be sent to the Public Prosecutor’s Office in order to request from the criminal judge the imposition of a fine or a prison sentence for the legal representative of the company,
Or the administration can impose an administrative penalty itself: a fine with or without publication of the sanction decision.

The issue is important for the company since the control exposes it to a criminal conviction of its manager, to very heavy fines, impacts its brand image and exposes it to the actions of its competitors on the basis of unfair competition for violation of the law.

The accompaniment of a specialized counsel is essential in the context of controls of the Economic Administration and its consequences.

Watch our video: 5 Tips for Preparing a Fraud Enforcement Control

The repression of Internet fraud

The Directorate General of Consumer Competition and Fraud Control (DGCCRF) checks whether the commercial practices of e-merchants are not unfair, misleading or aggressive, particularly with regard to content published on the Internet.

Specific rules on consumer information exist for e-merchants.

The action of Gouache Avocats in the event of fraud enforcement checks (in particular DGCCRF)

Gouache Avocats, which regularly accompanies its clients in the context of fraud enforcement controls, has put in place a methodology to anticipate controls, react effectively to them, and assert its rights and grounds for challenge.

Gouache Avocats:

1. Prepares you for a visit and seizure operation by training the people who will have to intervene during searches and who will be interlocutors with fraud enforcement agents.

2. Assists you in the control to ensure that the rights of the company are respected: by asking for details on the object and purpose of the investigation, by selecting the documents deemed confidential.

3. Assists you in interviews with interviewers, ensuring in particular that the questions fall within the scope of the survey, and that they and their answers are well transcribed by the interviewer.

4. Checks the relevance of the documents claimed by the investigators by ensuring that client/lawyer correspondence covered by professional secrecy is not seized or, at least, that it is sealed.

5. Checks the content of the minutes, encouraging you to express reservations if necessary.

6. Appeals, if necessary, against the JLD order to the First President of the territorially competent Court of Appeal within 10 days of notification of the order.

7. Form, if necessary, an appeal against the course of operations. The appeal period is 10 days from the delivery or receipt of the minutes and the inventory.

8. Appeals to the Administrative Court within 2 months.

Our intervention will allow you to reduce the risk of conviction of your manager, sanctions that can be very heavy, and will preserve your brand image.