PORTUGAL Law and Practice Contributed by: Joaquim Shearman de Macedo, Pedro Metello de Nápoles, Luís Heleno Terrinha and Ana Coimbra Trigo, PLMJ
2.7 Register of Domestic Judgments There is no central register of all judgments. How - ever, there is a database of available judgments issued by second and last instance courts (appellate courts and the Supreme Court of Justice, respectively). This publicly available database provides the text of the respective court’s judgments, with all personal and corporate details being anonymised. There is no mechanism by which a party can request the text of the judgment to be withdrawn from the database. Moreover, there is an Enforcement Online Regis - try containing a list of pending, suspended or past enforcement proceedings against debtors. This data - base is searchable by request to the competent court’s registrar. The request is to be presented by a person with an interest in accessing the available data, such as an enforcement agent or the creditor themselves. In the absence of consent from the debtor (as data subject), access can be authorised by a judge of law. This database keeps the data for a period of ten years. However, if the enforcement proceedings conclude with full payment of the debt, the enforcement record will be officially erased from the database. Finally, there is also a Public List of Enforcement Pro - ceedings containing a list of enforcement proceedings that have concluded with no payment or only partial payment of the debt. This database is publicly acces - sible online and can be searched by any citizen. The information recorded therein will be officially erased after a period of five years from the conclusion of the enforcement proceedings. Should the debtor fulfil its obligation towards the creditor, the information will also be automatically erased from the database. 3. Foreign Judgments 3.1 Legal Issues Concerning Enforcement of Foreign Judgments The enforcement of foreign judgments in Portugal may be subject to different legal frameworks and/or regimes, depending on the jurisdiction of origin of the foreign judgment (EU or non-EU foreign judgment). Accordingly, three sets of laws might have to be con - sidered:
• Portuguese national law (especially civil procedure law); • EU law; and • international law (in the form of multilateral and/or bilateral conventions). With regards to Portuguese national law, it will mostly be relevant for the enforcement of foreign judgments not covered by other legal regimes (ie, not subject to EU regulations or international conventions). As a member state of the EU, Portugal is bound to EU regulations on the enforcement of foreign judgments. The following are worth highlighting: • Regulation (EU) No 1215/2012 of 6 December 2012 (the “Brussels Recast Regulation”) – Regulation (EC) No 44/2001 (the “New Brussels I Regulation”) continues to apply to the recognition and enforce - ment of all judgments rendered in proceedings initiated before 10 January 2015; • Regulation (EC) No 2201/2003 of 27 November 2003 concerning jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments in matrimonial mat - ters and matters of parental responsibility; • Regulation (EC) No 4/2009 of 18 December 2008 on jurisdiction, applicable law, recognition and enforcement of decisions and co-operation in mat - ters relating to maintenance obligations; • Regulation (EU) No 650/2012 of 4 July 2012 on jurisdiction, applicable law, recognition and enforcement of decisions and acceptance and enforcement of authentic instruments in matters of succession and on the creation of a European Certificate of Succession; • Regulation (EU) No 2015/848 of 20 May 2015, on insolvency proceedings, then amended by Regula - tion (EU) 2021/2260; • Regulation (EC) No 1896/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 December 2006 creating a European Order for Payment Pro - cedure, amended by Regulation (EU) No 2015/242; • Regulation (EC) No 861/2007 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 July 2007 establishing a European Small Claims Procedure (up to EUR2,000), amended by the Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2017/1259 of 19 June 2017; and
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