PORTUGAL Trends and Developments Contributed by: Luís Portela de Carvalho, Pedro Cortés and Cláudia de Azevedo Neves, Lektou
platforms and search engines, whose enhanced obligations are supervised directly by the European Commission. National implementation brings the risk closer to operators active in Portugal. That closer proximity should, however, be understood correctly. ANACOM becomes an important entry point for complaints, co-operation and national action. Where the provider is established in another member state, primary competence may generally remain with that state’s co-ordinator; and for VLOPs and VLOSEs, the European Commission continues to play a central role. Competent authorities The law allocates powers among three entities. • ANACOM – designated as the competent adminis - trative authority and Digital Services Co-Ordinator, acting as the single point of contact with the Euro - pean Commission and the other member states. • ERC – responsible for supervising matters relating to terms and conditions, advertising transparency and the protection of minors. • CNPD – competent for advertising based on profil - ing that uses special categories of personal data and for advertising based on profiling directed at minors. This allocation follows the European trend of involving regulators with experience in communications, media or digital services. The shared model creates a practical challenge: com - panies may need to engage with several authorities at once, particularly where the same product or func - tionality combines content moderation, advertising, protection of minors and processing of personal data. Orders and information requests The law specifies the duties of providers of interme - diary services vis-à-vis judicial and administrative authorities. In simple terms, operators must be prepared to com - ply with orders to act against illegal content, orders to provide information on individual recipients of the
intermediary service concerned, or other information requests where this is required by law. Those orders must satisfy formal requirements – including identification of the authority, legal basis, reasons, deadline and redress mechanisms – which gives operators greater predictability. In return, oper - ators need teams, channels and records that can respond quickly and in a documented way. Communication platform The law provides for a centralised communication platform, managed by ANACOM, which will function as a structured channel between authorities and pro - viders. This platform will allow, in particular: • the sending of determinations by authorities to providers; • the receipt of communications from providers; • the transmission of determinations to co-ordinators in other member states; • the forwarding of complaints from recipients of the service; and • co-operation between public entities. Until the platform is operational, communication will take place electronically through designated points of contact. In practice, the relationship between plat - forms and authorities is likely to become more struc - ANACOM has a broad range of investigative and enforcement powers. In practice, ANACOM may: • investigate potential infringements, including by requesting information from providers and third parties, asking staff for explanations and, where necessary, applying to the court for inspections; • require corrective action, including by ordering pro - viders to cease infringements, imposing corrective measures and accepting binding commitments; • impose sanctions, including fines and periodic penalty payments; and • act in urgent or exceptional situations, including by applying for interim measures and, in extreme tured, traceable and evidence-based. ANACOM’s powers as co-ordinator
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