PORTUGAL LAW AND PRACTICE Contributed by: Joana Torres Fernandes, José Manuel Pereira da Costa, Danielle Avidago, Javier Mateo, António Pratas Nunes, Joana Loureiro Veríssimo, Madalena Mourão and David Serras Pereira, LVP Advogados
9. Looking Forward 9.1 Upcoming Legal Reforms
for the purposes of the GDPR and Portuguese data protection law. It is an independent administrative authority with public law powers and administrative and financial autonomy, operating in connection with the Portuguese Parliament. The CNPD’s role is to supervise and enforce data pro - tection law in Portugal. It also cooperates with other EU supervisory authorities, particularly in cross-bor - der cases involving organisations operating in several Member States. Powers and Enforcement The CNPD has investigative, corrective, advisory and authorisation powers under the GDPR and national law. These include the power to request information, carry out audits and investigations, issue warnings or reprimands, order controllers or processors to bring processing into compliance, impose temporary or definitive limitations on processing, order the suspen - sion of data flows and impose administrative fines. Administrative fines may follow the GDPR framework and can be significant, depending on the nature, grav - ity and duration of the infringement, the number of individuals affected, the degree of responsibility of the controller or processor, and any mitigating or aggra - vating factors. Practical Role for Businesses In practice, the CNPD is relevant not only in conten - tious matters, but also in day-to-day compliance. Organisations may need to interact with the CNPD in the context of personal data breach notifications, complaints submitted by data subjects, prior con - sultation in high-risk cases, audits, investigations or requests for guidance. Companies doing business in Portugal should there - fore treat data protection governance as an opera - tional risk area. Good documentation, clear internal responsibilities, staff training, vendor management and incident response procedures are important not only to comply with the law, but also to demonstrate accountability if the CNPD reviews the organisation’s practices.
No single, comprehensive overhaul of Portuguese pri - vate or regulatory law is expected in the short term. Instead, legal development is being driven predomi - nantly by EU-level regulation and targeted national reforms across specific sectors. The most significant trend is the increasing convergence between digital regulation, data governance, AI, cybersecurity and sector-specific regulatory frameworks, alongside incremental reforms in employment and immigration law. Intellectual Property, Data Protection and AI No major structural reform of Portuguese intellectual property or data protection statutes is expected in the immediate future. However, the legal framework is undergoing substantial transformation through direct - ly applicable EU legislation. Industrial Designs A significant development is the EU design reform package. Regulation (EU) 2024/2822 modernises the EU design regime, with key provisions applicable from May 2025 and further procedural changes entering into force in July 2026. Directive (EU) 2024/2823 must be transposed by December 2027. The reform broadens design protection to include digital and animated designs, clarifies scope of protection, and introduces changes affecting spare parts and repair clauses. This is particularly relevant for businesses in product design, fashion, consumer goods, software interfaces and digital assets. Copyright and Artificial Intelligence Portugal has already implemented the Digital Sin - gle Market Copyright Directive via Decree-Law No. 47/2023, introducing significant updates including text and data mining exceptions, press publisher rights and online content-sharing rules. The most significant ongoing development is the inter - section between copyright law and AI regulation. The EU AI Act, directly applicable in Portugal, imposes obligations on providers of general-purpose AI mod - els, including transparency and copyright compliance
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