PORTUGAL Law and Practice Contributed by: Pedro Duro, Mariana Proença Lobo and Joana Avelino Gomes, CS’Associados
the receipt of gifts, hospitality or other types of benefits is allowable in an institutional context. It is also recommended that internal communica - tion be promoted, with entities and organisations keeping a record of all situations of this nature as a way of strengthening and deepening trust and transparency. With this in mind, companies have been estab - lishing rules regarding receiving gifts and hospi - tality (allowance or prohibition), as well as a max - imum value (frequently in line with the regime created for politicians). In light of the foregoing, receiving a gift, hospi - tality expenses or promotional expenses does not constitute an offence itself. The specific cir - cumstances should be analysed in order to con - clude whether it is a reasonable gift or hospitality expense, or whether it is a means of bribing an employee. Facilitation payments are not allowed and are considered to constitute an offence in the Por - tuguese jurisdiction. 2.2 Influence-Peddling Influence-peddling is foreseen as a crime under Article 335 of the Criminal Code. A person who requests or accepts a patrimonial or non-patrimonial advantage, or the promise thereof, in order to abuse their influence, real or supposed, with any national or foreign public entity, may be punished with: • imprisonment for a period of one to five years, if a more serious penalty is not applica - ble under any other legal provision and if the purpose is to obtain any favourable unlawful decision; or
• imprisonment for a period of up to three years or a fine, if a more serious penalty is not applicable under any other legal provision and if the purpose is to obtain a favourable lawful decision. A person who gives or promises a patrimonial or non-patrimonial advantage, or the promise thereof, in order to abuse their influence, real or supposed, with any national or foreign public entity may be punished with: • imprisonment for a period of up to three years or with a fine, if the purpose is to obtain any favourable unlawful decision; or • imprisonment for a period of up to two years, or a fine with a period of up to 240 days, if the purpose is to obtain a favourable lawful decision. Attempts made towards the above-described offences are also punishable. For individuals, the period of the fine ranges from 10 to 360 days, with the minimum and maximum daily amount of the fine varying between EUR5 and EUR500 (depending on the financial situa - tion of the defendant). For companies, the daily amount of the fine rang - es between EUR100 and EUR10,000 (depending on their financial situation). The minimum fine period for companies is 10 days, and the maxi - mum period depends on the crime the company is being charged of (please see 5.1 Penalties on Conviction and 5.2 Guidelines Applicable
to the Assessment of Penalties ). 2.3 Financial Record-Keeping
Document forgery (including forgery or inaccu - racy of corporate books and records) is a crime under Article 256 of the Criminal Code, being
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