PORTUGAL Law and Practice Contributed by: Pedro Duro, Mariana Proença Lobo and Joana Avelino Gomes, CS’Associados
Foreign Public Official A foreign public official is a person who, in the service of a foreign country as an official or a servant, or in any other capacity – whether tem - porarily or provisionally, for remuneration or free of charge, or voluntarily or compulsorily – has been called upon to perform or participate in the performance of an activity included in the public administrative or judicial service or, in the same circumstances, performs functions or par - ticipates in public utility bodies, is a manager, supervisory board member or employee of a public, nationalised, publicly owned or publicly majority-owned company, or is a public service concessionaire. Any person who takes up and exercises a public service function in a private company under a public contract is also a for - eign public official. Public Official of an International Organisation A public official of an international organisation is a person who, in the service of an internation - al organisation governed by public law – as an official or servant, or in any other capacity, and whether temporarily or provisionally, in exchange for remuneration or free of charge, on a voluntary or compulsory basis – has been called upon to perform or participate in the performance of an activity. Foreign Political Officeholder A foreign political officeholder is a person who, in the service of a foreign country, holds a position in the legislative, judicial or executive branch at the national, regional or local level to which they have been appointed or elected. Private Sector Employee A private sector employee is a person who per - forms duties, including management or super - visory duties, under an individual contract of
employment, service provision or otherwise – even temporarily – for remuneration or free of charge in the service of a private sector entity. Bribery Between Private Parties An example of corruption in the private sector is where an employee of a private company offers an advantage to another employee of another private company to be chosen to provide a cer - tain service. This behaviour may be punishable under Articles 8 and 9 of Law No 20/2008 of 21 April 2008, as amended. Hospitality Expenditures, Gifts, Promotional Expenditures and Facilitation Payments Regarding gifts and hospitality (travel expens - es, meals), Portugal has a specific regime only applicable to holders of political and high pub - lic office. Law No 52/2019 of 31 July 2019 has established a maximum and reasonable limit of up to EUR150. The same limit is established in the government’s Code of Conduct. There is no identical limitation for private companies. How - ever, and with the entry into force of the Por - tuguese Corruption Prevention Framework, all companies with more than 50 employees have the obligation to implement a Code of Conduct that sets out principles, values and rules in rela - tion to professional ethics, taking into account the criminal rules on corruption and related offences and the risks of the entity being exposed to these crimes. In September 2023, the Nation - al Anti-Corruption Mechanism (responsible for the supervision of compliance with the duties foreseen in the Portuguese Corruption Preven - tion Framework) published guidelines with some indications and explanatory notes on methodo - logical precautions for drawing up and adopt - ing, among other things, the Code of Conduct. In relation to the aforementioned guidelines, the National Anti-Corruption Mechanism states that it is important to foresee situations in which
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