For Professionals
Businesses, public bodies and insurers: dedicated expertise in protection and economic intelligence, delivered by ADN Investigation.
ADN Investigation (Agence Détective Nord) and its economic-intelligence partner ProTein put their expertise at the service of professionals — private companies, public bodies and insurance companies. Managing risk means anticipating it and defending your position: in what many now call an "economic war", control of information and intelligence provides a genuine strategic advantage. Good decisions require good information — about your employees, suppliers, clients and subcontractors.
Our investigators, CNAPS-licensed and AFNOR-certified, work to the same standards of method and discretion as for our private clients, adapted to the legal and economic issues specific to each sector.
Simplified pricing, with no night, weekend or holiday surcharges, and a report always included — see our business rates →
Why businesses trust us
- A dedicated team, never a single isolated investigator, for high-stakes cases
- A report admissible in court, usable before an employment tribunal or commercial court
- Total confidentiality: professional secrecy from the very first contact, no conflict of interest
- CNAPS licence and AFNOR certification, verifiable online
Our 4-step method
- Case analysisa confidential discussion to identify the legal and economic stakes
- Investigation strategydefining the methods (surveillance, mystery shopping, research) and a quote
- Fieldworkdiscreet intervention by our licensed team
- Report and follow-updelivery of the report, and direct contact with your counsel if needed
Private businesses
We run a business too, so we understand that managing risk means anticipating it and defending your position. Many economists describe today's marketplace as an "economic war", and as in any conflict, control of information and intelligence provides a real strategic advantage. To make good decisions, you need to know — about your employees, suppliers, clients and subcontractors.
Fighting unfair competition
Under French law, a business can generally be a victim of four recognised forms of unfair competition:
- Denigration — communications aimed at discrediting a competitor, personally or professionally, through false information or misleading comparative advertising.
- Disruption of the business (poaching staff, industrial espionage, undermining a distribution network) or of the market (selling at a loss, loss-leading, unlicensed trading).
- Confusion or imitation — a brand, trading name, logo, or the look of a product or its packaging: any distinctive sign used fraudulently to confuse consumers.
- Free-riding (parasitism) — unfairly profiting from a competitor's industrial, commercial or advertising effort, even without a direct competitive relationship, where a well-known brand is involved.
For all these situations — as varied as they are, and sometimes overlapping — we do everything we can to gather evidence of conduct that breaches commercial law, so you can bring legal action or simply take steps to protect yourself.
Illegal practices in the workplace
The most common of these practices are undeclared ("black market") work and theft within a company.
Undeclared work — is a competitor using undeclared workers to fulfil contracts? Their pricing can then disrupt the market and create a shortfall for your business. The problem can also affect your own staff — for example, an employee on sick leave who is secretly working another job. We help you address this, and, where necessary, put you in touch with the bodies that combat undeclared work.
Theft within a company — are your margins shrinking, is stock coming up short, has equipment gone missing? You may be the victim of internal theft, whether by employees, carriers or subcontractors. Our investigators work to locate the source of the problem and provide you with evidence.
Fighting counterfeiting and industrial espionage
Counterfeiting — a genuine plague for successful companies, damaging not only revenue but also a product's reputation for quality. Despite customs enforcement, illicit workshops often keep operating and distribution networks keep selling counterfeit copies. We can act anywhere in the world to trace these networks and give you a starting point for engaging local authorities.
Industrial counter-espionage — does your business hold rare know-how, an innovative technology, or a lead over competitors built through your own investment? The fastest way for a competitor to acquire your knowledge is industrial espionage — sometimes even state-sponsored. We search for the source of internal leaks and work to trace them back to whoever commissioned them.
Mystery shopping & economic intelligence
Mystery shopper investigations — word of mouth is often a business's best advertising. This isn't about ticking a few boxes: it's a thorough, targeted assessment of customer satisfaction and service quality against your own specifications. Stop tolerating the gap between the image you want your business to project and the reality on the ground.
Economic intelligence — looking for a genuine competitive edge through competitor analysis, or working within an economic-intelligence firm? Licensed private investigators are, in France, the only private profession explicitly recognised and authorised by the State to conduct investigations. We can support you with on-the-ground fact-finding.
Financial risk prevention
Money is the lifeblood of any business: without it, plans remain wishful thinking. That's why protecting yourself against financial risk matters so much.
Preventing fraud attempts — has an unfamiliar client placed an unusually large order? Is a new supplier offering raw materials at implausibly low prices? Since it's always difficult to be certain you're not being set up for fraud that could jeopardise your business, we verify the history, financial standing and true situation of these parties so you know whether the deal is genuine.
Locating debtors — tracking down a non-paying customer can be complicated, and your business can't afford to write off certain invoices. We locate your debtors' whereabouts and contact details.
Public sector
ADN Investigation and its partner ProTein have genuine expertise in the public sector. We understand that the obligations and constraints faced by public-sector clients are quite specific, even where the underlying problems resemble those of the private sector. For our investigations, we distinguish between two types of client: publicly owned companies and local government bodies.
Publicly owned companies
Publicly owned companies face the same problems as their private-sector counterparts — except that, being wholly or largely funded by public money, they are more exposed to scandal and to public opinion.
These entities are typically structured as semi-public companies (like SAEM Lille Grand Palais) or as state-owned industrial and commercial establishments, such as SNCF (national rail), RATP (Paris transport), ADEME (environment agency), ONF (forestry) or ONERA (aerospace research).
Disputes between employees and these organisations are generally heard before the employment tribunal; in exceptional cases — such as the secondment of senior civil servants — the administrative court may have jurisdiction. Whatever their legal status, these organisations have the same investigative and intelligence-gathering needs as private companies (internal theft, industrial counter-espionage, abusive sick leave, and so on).
Local authorities & public bodies
Local authorities and public bodies employ civil servants, which means disputes are settled before the administrative court.
Civil-servant status doesn't prevent unethical or even fraudulent conduct (abusive sick leave, theft, misuse of resources for personal purposes, and so on). We operate under the same conditions as in the private sector — civil servants under surveillance must be informed in advance that an investigator's involvement is possible.
We go further by taking part in genuine public-service delegation missions: a municipality, a department, a region or the State can call on our services for specific investigations — for example environmental investigations on public land, as was done for the town of Roubaix — without having to recruit in-house staff for missions they wouldn't have the right experience for.
Insurance
False declarations
If you're an insurer, we can investigate the accuracy of claim declarations (under Article L113-8 of the French Insurance Code), which can lead to the policy being voided.
Investigating the cause of a claim
We investigate whether a claim may have been caused by the policyholder (under Article L113-1 of the French Insurance Code), so you're not left covering a loss that shouldn't be covered.
Recourse options
Our investigations can also identify a responsible third party — theft, fire and so on — so the insurer can pursue a claim for damages.
The director of ADN Investigation (CNAPS licence no. AUT-059-2112-07-30-20130339414) holds a certification issued by AFNOR (the French national standards body).
