Imagens Médicas Integradas SA – CJEU Judgment (Portugal, 2025)
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The Court of Justice ruled on a case involving Imagens Médicas Integradas and other companies about the seizure of employees' emails during a competition investigation. The companies argued that this seizure violated their right to keep communications private. This decision could impact how companies handle employee communications during investigations.
What happened
The Court ruled on the legality of seizing employees' emails during a competition authority investigation.
Who was affected
Employees of Imagens Médicas Integradas and other companies whose emails were seized by the competition authority.
What the authority found
The Court examined whether business emails are considered 'correspondence' and if their seizure violates privacy rights under EU law.
Why this matters
This ruling could set a precedent for how employee communications are treated in legal investigations. Companies should be aware of the implications for privacy rights when dealing with regulatory inquiries.
GDPR Articles Cited
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National Law Articles
Imagens Médicas Integradas S.A., several companies in the SIBS group and Synlabhealth II S.A. (the controllers) are a number of companies in the medical field. Between 2021 and 2022, the national competition authority conducted several investigations under the authorisation of the Public Prosecutor’s Office. The information seized included employees’ emails and internal documents. The controllers objected to the competition authority seizing employees’ emails, and filed an appeal with the Tribunal da Concorrência, Regulação e Supervisão (Competition, Regulation and Supervision Court, Portugal). According to the controllers, the seizures were illegal, as they infringed their right to secrecy of correspondence. The competition court decided to stay proceedings and refer questions to the CJEU concerning the lawfulness of the seizure of emails of employees during investigations carried out by the competition authority. The competition court referred the following questions: # Do the business records at issue in this case, which are transmitted by email, constitute “correspondence” for the purposes of [https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/treaty/char_2012/oj/eng Article 7 CFR]? # Does [https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/treaty/char_2012/oj/eng Article 7 CFR] preclude business records arising from email communications between managers and employees of undertakings from being seized in the course of an investigation into agreements and practices prohibited under [https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/treaty/tfeu_2012/oj/eng Article 101 TFEU] (ex Article 81 [EC]) [or, in Case C 260/23, [https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/treaty/tfeu_2012/oj/eng Article 102 TFEU] (ex article 82 [EC])]? # Does [https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/treaty/char_2012/oj/eng Article 7 CFR] preclude such business records from being seized on the prior authorisation of a judicial authority, in this case the Public Prosecutor’s Office, which is responsible for representing the State, defending the interests determined by law, b
Outcome
CJEU Judgment
A judgment by the Court of Justice of the European Union, typically on a preliminary reference from a national court.
Related Cases (0)
No other cases found for Imagens Médicas Integradas SA in PT
This is the only recorded case for this entity in this jurisdiction.
Details
Judgment Date
23 October 2025
Authority
Court of Justice of the European Union
GDPRhub ID
gdprhub-cjeu-9592About this data
Cite as: Cookie Fines. Imagens Médicas Integradas SA - Portugal (2025). Retrieved from cookiefines.eu
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