Sanctions 2026

PORTUGAL Law and Practice Contributed by: Bárbara Marinho e Pinto, Ana Reis Mota, Lua Mota Santos and Jéssica Dinis Bento, Rogério Alves & Associados

6. Civil Litigation and Arbitration 6.1 Force Majeure In Portugal, there is no specific case law on the impact of international sanctions on the performance of contractual obligations. However, the relevant legal framework is set out in Law No 97/2017 of 23 August, which states that acts carried out in breach of restric - tive measures adopted by the UN or the EU are null and void and that the entities responsible for imple - menting those measures are not liable to pay compen - sation in respect of contracts whose performance has been affected, directly or indirectly, in whole or in part, by those sanctions. In practice, when the performance of a contract requires an act prohibited by the regime of restrictive measures, fulfilment of that obligation is no longer enforceable. 6.2 Enforcement In Portugal, there is no case law that directly address - es the enforcement of judgments when issues related to international sanctions arise, but judicial practice shows that the courts block or restrict acts whenever they conflict with restrictive measures. This approach is particularly clear in proceedings linked to sanc - tions against Russia, in which the Lisbon Court of Appeal affirmed the direct application of Regulation (EU) No 833/2014, upholding account freezes and blocks on funds and refusing transactions that would deprive the restrictive measures of their useful effect. Regarding the matters concerning sanctions against Iran, the Évora Court of Appeal kept the suspension of banking operations and refused to release funds when the route of inheritance through intermediaries suggested an attempt to circumvent the sanctions regime. Therefore, although there is no case law that specifically deals with the enforcement of judgments when sanctions issues arise, the practice of the Portu - guese courts shows that acts are restricted or blocked whenever there is a conflict with restrictive measures, thereby ensuring the effectiveness of the sanctions.

7. Designation, Compliance and Circumvention 7.1 Executive Body

Designation decisions are taken at international level: by the United Nations Security Council and, in the case of European Union sanctions, by the Council of the European Union, which places the persons con - cerned on the lists set out in the annexes to the sanc - tions regulations. At a domestic level, Portugal does not have autono - mous designation lists. However, the implementation of restrictive measures falls within the joint compe - tence of the Minister for Foreign Affairs and the mem - ber of the government responsible for the relevant sector, through acts that identify the addressees of the measures. This is supported by the Directorate- General for Foreign Policy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Office for Planning, Strategy, Evalua - tion and International Relations (GPEARI) of the Minis - try of Finance, which co-ordinates the implementation of the measures and performs the functions assigned to them by the acts adopting those measures. 7.2 Scope of Designation Although the legislation does not formally provide for an “indirect designation” of entities by virtue of being owned or controlled by designated persons, in prac - tice they are treated as falling within the scope of the restrictive measures whenever they constitute prop - erty, whenever they are in the possession of, or are owned or controlled by designated persons. The concepts of “ownership” and “control” are clari - fied in various EU regulations whereby: “owned” means, in practical terms, that the designated person holds 50% or more of the property rights or a major - ity shareholding in the entity; and “controlled” means that, even without holding a majority shareholding, the designated person has decisive powers over the enti - ty, namely to appoint or remove most of the members of the management, director or supervisory bodies, to use all or part of its assets, to manage its activities on a unified basis, or otherwise to exercise a dominant influence over that entity.

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