PORTUGAL Law and Practice Contributed by: José Luís da Cruz Vilaça and Mariana Tavares, Antas da Cunha Ecija
appeal must generally be filed within 30 days and is also subject to a review of admissibility by both the appellate and supreme courts.
define the class. Instead, this is assessed at the final judgment stage, allowing claims to proceed without preliminary procedural hurdles. • Lower financial barriers: The cost of litigating class actions is relatively modest. Court fees are payable only after a judgment is delivered. If the claim suc - ceeds in full or in part, the claimant is exempt from paying court costs. Even if the claim fails entirely, Portuguese courts tend to limit adverse cost orders, reducing financial risk for claimants. • Strict procedural deadlines for defendants: The Portuguese system imposes tight timeframes for responding to claims. Domestic defendants must file their full defence. including both legal and factual arguments, within 30 days of service on the last defendant; foreign defendants have 60 days. There are no later stages to introduce new defenc - es, which places pressure on defendants to be fully prepared early in the process. These procedural dynamics make Portugal a strategi - cally important jurisdiction for claimants, especially in cross-border litigation. While defendants may still be litigating preliminary issues like class certification in other countries, in Portugal they must already be defending the case on the merits, making it a poten - tially high-stakes and front-loaded venue for antitrust litigation.
13. Looking Forward 13.1 Legislative Trends and Other Developments
In Portugal, competition litigation is experiencing nota - ble growth and is expected to continue expanding in the near future, particularly in the areas of follow-on actions and collective claims. More than 100 follow- on actions have been lodged with the Competition, Regulation and Supervision Court since 2020. A number of factors are contributing to this trend, making the Portuguese system especially claimant- friendly: • Open access to class actions: Any individual or entity has standing to initiate a class action, and these claims are generally conducted on an opt- out basis, meaning all affected parties are included unless they actively choose otherwise. • No certification phase: Unlike some jurisdictions where class certification can delay proceedings, Portugal does not require prior court approval to
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