PORTUGAL Law and Practice Contributed by: Rita Samoreno Gomes, Petra Carreira and Maria Berta Jerónimo, PLMJ
fine is EUR4,987.98 for each offence, although the law does not define what is to be understood by “each offence” for this purpose. This penalty will be shared equally between the claimant and the state. Compensation The Consumer Protection Class Actions Act refers to the Class Action Act’s provisions on compensation, adding that any judgment ordering compensation must establish the criteria for identifying consumers who have suffered damage and for quantifying the damage suffered by each individual consumer identi- fied as having suffered damage. If the consumers who have suffered damage cannot be individually identi- fied, the judgment must establish a global amount of compensation. However, the Consumer Protection Class Actions Act falls short when it comes to regulating the procedures to be followed in the management and payment of compensation when a global amount is fixed. In fact, it only requires that the judgment indicate the entity responsible for receiving, managing, and paying the compensation due to consumers who suffered dam- age and are not individually identified. It also provides that the claimant or one or more consumers identified in the action may be designated for that purpose. Regarding the destination of the compensation, the Consumer Protection Class Actions Act establishes that any compensation awarded but not claimed by the consumers, within a reasonable period estab- lished by the judge, will be allocated, first, to the payment of all the costs, fees and other expenses incurred by the claimant with the action. These include remuneration due to any third-party funding provider, provided that this remuneration complies with the cor- responding requirements. Of the remaining amounts not claimed within the time limit set by the court or not paid because it is impossible to identify the con- sumers entitled to them, 60% will be paid to the Fund for the Promotion of Consumer Rights and 40% to the Institute for Financial Management and Justice Facilities. This applies to class actions for the protec- tion of consumer interests; otherwise, the amounts will be delivered to the Ministry of Justice, which will record them in a special account and allocate them to
the payment of legal fees and support for access to justice by holders of the right to bring a class action. Disclosure of Advertising The Consumer Protection Class Actions Act intro- duces new rules on the disclosure and advertising of collective actions, including the following. • Final judgments, including those approving set- tlements, will be published and communicated to consumers. This will be done on the defend- ant’s website and in two newspapers most likely to be read by those interested in the judgments (or by any other means of communication chosen by the court). The losing party must pay for this publication. The judge may order the publication of extracts of the main points if the length of the document makes full publication inadvisable. • The claimants have the same obligation of publi- cation and communication in respect of final and unappealable decisions rejecting or dismissing col- lective actions seeking remedial measures. • Claimants are required to publish on their websites information about collective actions they have brought in Portugal. • The DGC will annually provide the European Com- mission with information on collective actions concluded in Portugal. It will also publish on its website the list of qualified entities designated for the purpose of bringing transnational collective actions, as well as information on collective actions pending and concluded before national courts. 2. Legal Framework 2.1 Collective Redress and Class Action Legislation Portugal has a specific procedural mechanism for class actions whereby an individual or group of indi- viduals, associations, foundations, local authorities or, in respect of certain matters, the public prosecu- tor and the Directorate-General for Consumers may bring an action in representation of a larger group of people. This class action procedure is known as the ação popular (popular action) and may be brought in areas such as the environment, public health, con-
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