PORTUGAL Law and Practice Contributed by: Armando Martins Ferreira, Inês Sequeira Mendes and Margarida Calixto Kolmer, Abreu Advogados
admitting the facts and accepting responsibil - ity for the infringement. This proposal cannot be unilaterally revoked and suspends the time limit to respond to the SO. Such suspension cannot, however, be more than 30 working days. Such suspension can also be determined by the PCA to engage in discussions leading to such pro - posal. Once the settlement proposal has been received, the PCA will review it, and can refuse it if it considers the submission to be unsub - stantiated (in which case, the decision is final) or accept it and issue a notice containing the terms of the settlement, including the sanctions imposed and the percentage reduction of the fine. The party concerned must confirm the set - tlement notice or the submission will be deemed revoked once the time limit of ten working days has elapsed. As mentioned above, the reduction of the fine is not set out in the Act and will be decided by the PCA on a case-by-case basis. 5.3 Effect of Liability Being Established According to Law 23/2018, a final condemna - tory decision issued by the PCA or by an appeal court which confirms that competition law has been infringed establishes an irrefutable pre - sumption of the existence and nature of such infringement, as well as of its material, subjec - tive, temporal and territorial scope, for the pur - pose of a claim for damages. The same applies, although in more limited terms (rebuttable pre - sumption), with respect to decisions issued by foreign competition authorities or foreign courts. The PCA may impose as ancillary sanctions, among others: • publication in the official gazette and in a national newspaper, at the offender’s
expense, of the decision related to the infringement; or • a ban on participating in procurement pro - ceedings for a maximum period of two years, if the infringement occurred during, or as a consequence of, such proceedings. 5.4 Sanctions and Penalties in Criminal Proceedings Sanctions are based on administrative offences. There are no criminal proceedings in this respect. 5.5 History of Criminal Sanctions Sanctions are based on administrative offences. There are no criminal proceedings in this respect. The most significant fines for cartel conduct have been administrative in nature, with the highest sanctions imposed on companies rather than individuals. One of the largest fines to date was issued in 2021, when the PCA imposed a total of EUR304 million on four insurance companies for participating in a price-fixing and market-sharing cartel. While the PCA has the authority to fine individu - als, penalties against individuals have so far been rare and relatively modest. Portuguese law allows for individual liability under the Competi - tion Act, with fines of up to 10% of the indi - vidual’s annual income, but these are seldom applied. Most enforcement actions and fines are directed at companies. There is currently no criminal liability for cartel conduct under Portuguese competition law. Cartels are treated as administrative infringe - ments, not criminal offences. As a result, no individuals have served custodial sentences or spent time in jail in Portugal for cartel-related conduct. Similarly, there is no public notice of Portuguese citizens being extradited to another
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