PORTUGAL Law and Practice Contributed by: Armando Martins Ferreira, Inês Sequeira Mendes and Margarida Calixto Kolmer, Abreu Advogados
implications for legal strategy, disclosure and risk assessment. 1.4 “Cartel Conduct” The Competition Act, in line with the TFEU, contains a general prohibition on agreements between undertakings (seen as economic units), concerted practices and decisions by associations of undertakings (anti-competitive co-ordination) that have the object or effect of significantly preventing, distorting or restricting competition in the domestic market or part there - of. For example, the Competition Act identifies as forbidden any agreements that are aimed at: • directly or indirectly fixing purchase or sales prices or any other trading conditions; • limiting or controlling production, markets, technological development or investment; • sharing markets or sources of supply; • applying dissimilar conditions to equiva - lent transactions with other trading parties, thereby placing them at a competitive disad - vantage; or • making their execution contingent upon the acceptance by the other parties of additional obligations that, by their nature or according to commercial practice, have no connection with their subject matter. Typically excluded from this prohibition are, inter alia, the following: • agreements that may be considered justified, should they contribute to improving produc - tion or distribution of goods or services, or to promoting technical or economic progress, given that they: (a) allow the users of these goods or services an equitable part of the resulting benefit; (b) do not impose on the undertakings concerned any restrictions that are not
indispensable to the attainment of these objectives; and (c) do not afford such undertakings the pos - sibility of eliminating competition from a substantial part of the market for the goods or services at issue; • collective agreements between employers and workers, in matters strictly related to labour matters, work conditions, etc; • genuine agency agreements, where the eco - nomic risk lies with the principal; and • agreements that do not significantly (or appreciably) restrict competition (de minimis). 1.5 Limitation Periods The limitation period for the procedure of car - tel infringements is five years, starting from the end of the infringement (the limitation period for continued infringements starts only when the infringement ends). The time limit for the enforcement of the sanc - tion imposed on cartel infringements is also five years, from the date of the final decision. Both limitation periods are subject to suspen - sions and interruptions, but the Competition Act establishes the maximum limitation period for the procedure (including interruptions) as seven- and-a-half years, plus a maximum suspension period of three years. Notwithstanding this, the new amendment saw the introduction of a rule according to which infringement proceedings will be suspended for the period during which the decision of the PCA is subject to judicial appeal, without setting a maximum limitation period. 1.6 Jurisdiction The scope of the Competition Act covers all eco - nomic activities in the private, public and co- operative sector, whether permanent or occa -
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