Foreign companies prepare themselves for 'dawn raids'
On Aug 4 in the early afternoon, 10 men in suits and casual business clothes barged into a busy office at Mercedes-Benz's East China sales office, near Shanghai's Hongqiao international airport.
"People were starting a new week and were just back from lunch, when the men arrived," said a person familiar with the scene. "They didn't have the slightest idea they were coming to ... question people for data and information for the next 10 hours," he said, adding the men were antitrust investigators from the National Development and Reform Commission.
Such "dawn raids" more commonly seen in the United States and Europe have become a powerful weapon for China's increasingly aggressive antitrust enforcement agencies, the NDRC and the State Administration for Industry and Commerce, allowing them to seize evidence that may aid broader probes into antitrust violations or corruption.
