PORTUGAL Law and Practice Contributed by: Bárbara Marinho e Pinto, Ana Reis Mota, Lua Mota Santos and Jéssica Dinis Bento, Rogério Alves & Associados
Rogério Alves e Associados – Sociedade de Advogados SP RL Avenida Álvares Cabral 61 4 piso 1250-017 Lisboa Portugal
Tel: +351 21 391 10 40 Fax: +351 21 391 10 41 Email: geral@raassociados.pt Web: www.raassociados.pt
1. Trends and Overview 1.1 Sanctions Market
Finally, in December 2025, Portugal transposed Direc - tive (EU) 2024/1226 through Law No 72/2025 of 23 December. The sanctions environment in Portugal is now more demanding than a year ago, particularly for regulated financial and capital markets entities. Before Law No 72/2025, breaches of the Union’s restrictive measures were punished mainly as administrative offences; nowadays, criminal penalties have become the predominant form of sanction for this type of con - duct, in a clear move to strengthen the coercive nature of these measures. Under Law No 72/2025 of 23 December, the Portu - guese Penal Code has been amended so that breach - es of the restrictive measures set out in Article 28 of Law No 97/2017 of 23 August now constitute predi - cate offences for the crime of money laundering. 1.2 Key Trends At EU level, sanctions enforcement is being strength - ened through criminal law. Directive (EU) 2024/1226 was transposed by Law No 72/2025 of 23 December. It sets out minimum rules on the criminalisation of sanc - tions violations and on the level of penalties. It seeks to prevent the circumvention of EU sanctions, includ - ing those adopted following the Russian aggression against Ukraine. Harmonising national criminal law in this field will facilitate the investigation and prosecu - tion of violations of EU sanctions in all member states, making EU restrictive measures more effective. Law No 83/2017 of 18 August sets out the Portu - guese framework on the prevention of money laun -
The sanctions landscape in Portugal remains highly complex and is driven almost entirely by develop - ments at EU level. EU restrictive measures have con - tinued to expand and be refined – particularly in rela - tion to Russia/Ukraine and other geopolitical hotspots – with frequent amendments to listings and sectoral restrictions. Law No 97/2017 of 23 August, as amended by Law No 58/2020 of 31 August, regulates the application and enforcement of restrictive measures adopted by the United Nations or the European Union and estab - lishes the system of penalties applicable to breaches of those measures. In 2024, the EU adopted Directive (EU) 2024/1226 on the definition of criminal offences and penalties for the violation of Union restrictive measures. The Directive harmonises the criminalisation of sanctions breaches and establishes minimum rules on penal - ties, which member states, including Portugal, must transpose, further raising the compliance bar for com - panies and financial institutions. The European Com - mission opened infringement procedures against 18 member states, including Portugal, for failing to trans - pose Directive (EU) 2024/1226 within the prescribed timeframe, underscoring the importance attached to the effective application of Union restrictive measures.
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