PORTUGAL Law and Practice Contributed by: Luís Portela de Carvalho, Pedro Cortés and Cláudia de Azevedo Neves, Lektou
diary service providers to block, remove or disable access to online gambling services made avail - able by operators that are not legally authorised to operate. • The Cybercrime Law (Law No 109/2009) contains mechanisms for the preservation and production of electronic evidence in criminal investigations. Separately, the data retention framework under Law No 32/2008 has been substantially affected by Constitutional Court case law, notably Ruling No 268/2022, in relation to broad retention of traffic and location data. Providers may still be required to preserve data and co-operate with competent authorities, subject to judicial control. Portugal does not have a separate domestic taxonomy of online-harms platforms. Law No 12-A/2026 instead organises national supervision around the DSA cat - egories, including intermediary services, hosting ser - vices, online platforms, online marketplaces, search engines, and very large online platforms and very large online search engines (VLOPs and VLOSEs). 1.1.2 Categories of Platforms Classic Intermediary Categories Decree-Law No 7/2004 historically reflected the E-Commerce Directive categories of mere conduit, caching and hosting. Those categories remain useful for understanding the role performed by each inter - mediary, but the operative liability framework is now primarily found in the directly applicable DSA. In practical terms, the most important distinction is between intermediary or hosting services, online plat - forms and the largest services. Online platforms are subject to additional complaint-handling, advertising transparency and user-protection duties, while VLOPs and VLOSEs face enhanced obligations relating to systemic risk, independent audits, data access and transparency. Law No 12-A/2026 provides the Por - tuguese institutional framework for supervising these categories, without creating a separate national clas - sification system. Video-Sharing and Copyright-Specific Platforms Portuguese sectoral rules also identify specific cat - egories of platform. The Television Law treats video- sharing platform services separately from broadcast -
ers and on-demand audiovisual services. Television broadcasting services are linear services, where programmes are provided for simultaneous viewing on the basis of a programme schedule. On-demand audiovisual media services are non-linear services, where users choose when to view programmes from a catalogue selected by the provider. Video-sharing platform services make programmes or user-generat - ed videos available to the public, where the provider organises the content, including by automated means or algorithms, but does not exercise editorial respon - sibility over it. In the copyright field, the CDADC also contains a separate concept of online content-sharing service provider. That regime is aimed at platforms whose main purpose is to store and give the public access to large quantities of user-uploaded copyright-protected content. Certain services, such as not-for-profit ency - clopaedias, educational repositories, open-source development platforms, online marketplaces and business-to-business cloud services, are expressly excluded. 1.1.3 Relevant Regulators and Enforcement Digital Services Co-Ordinator Law No 12-A/2026 appoints ANACOM ( Autoridade Nacional de Comunicações ) as Portugal’s Digital Ser - vices Co-Ordinator and as the lead authority for the national supervision of intermediary services under the DSA framework. The same law also gives specific roles to the Media Regulatory Authority (ERC – Entidade Reguladora para a Comunicação Social ) and to the Data Protection Authority (CNPD – Comissão Nacional de Proteção de Dados ), particularly where audiovisual content or data protection issues are involved. Investigation and Enforcement The relevant authorities may request information, con - duct inspections, issue orders and impose adminis - trative sanctions. Depending on the breach and the applicable regime, enforcement may include orders to stop unlawful conduct, remove or restrict access to content or services, administrative fines and ancil - lary sanctions. Under Law No12-A/2026, more serious infringements may lead to fines of up to 6% of annual
53 CHAMBERS.COM
Powered by FlippingBook