Portugal

On May 14, 2020, the Portuguese Parliament passed Law no. 16/2020, dated May 29, making the fourth amendment to  Law no. 1-A/2020, dated March 19, determining various exceptional and temporary measures in response to the epidemic caused by the SARS CoV-2 coronavirus and the COVID-19 infectious disease, affecting the area of Justice and the Courts, significantly including the suspension of procedural time limits (albeit with certain limitations and exceptions). Consult our April 7 Alert.

In late March and early April, the European Commission ("EC") approved two state aid packages for Portugal, within the framework of Article 107 (3) (b) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), namely decisions SA.56755 and SA.56873, respectively. The EC considers them necessary, appropriate and proportionate measures to remedy a serious disturbance in the economy of this Member State.

As announced by the Portuguese Government, Law no. 13/2020, of 7 May, was finally published, which came into force on the day after its publication and provides for the temporary application of the following VAT measures:

Throughout the three declarations of State of Emergency, Garrigues has been tracking the legislative output from the Parliament and the Government aimed at minimizing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on social and economic sectors.

The pandemic associated to the COVID-19 brought deep and substantial changes in the most diverse areas and sectors, having, in particular, provoked significant modification in the labor universe.

As we have been following, the Portuguese Government has approved several successive exceptional measures to mitigate the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic in Portugal.

The Portuguese Data Protection Authority issued guidelines (available solely in Portuguese) on the collection of employees' health data by the employer in the context of the infection prevention by the new coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, in which it clarified that:

Law No 10/2020 of 18 April 2020 enacted an exceptional and temporary legal framework concerning (i) the procedure for the service of judicial documents by post provided for in the procedural laws and (ii) the parcel services, in view of the epidemiological situation caused by the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus and the COVID-19 disease. 

The Portuguese  Data Protection Authority (CNPD, Comissão Nacional de Proteção de Dados) issued, on April 8, guidelines regarding the processing of personal data carried out through distance learning platforms driven by e-learning, MOOC (massive open online course), content/file sharing, videoconferencing and messaging technologies.