Portugal: Law No. 7/2022 prohibits geo-blocking and discrimination practices in electronic sales to consumers in the autonomous regions
Portugal Intellectual Property Alert
Law no. 7/2022, published on January 10, aims to prohibit geo-blocking and unjustified discrimination, as well as other forms of discrimination in online sales based, directly or indirectly, on the place of residence or establishment of the consumer, applying to all traders who make goods or services available in the Portuguese territory.
This Law prohibits the blocking or restriction by the trader, by means of technological or other measures, of the consumer's access to his online interfaces for reasons related to his place of residence or to the place of establishment in the Portuguese territory, not being the trader allowed to redirect the consumer to a different version of the online interface to which the consumer initially tried to access (unless there is the consumer's express consent). However, these prohibitions do not apply if blocking, restricting access, or redirecting are necessary to ensure compliance with legal requirements to which the trader's activities are subject.
Furthermore, the trader cannot apply different general conditions of access to goods or services depending on the place of residence or place of establishment of the consumer in the Portuguese territory and it is obliged to provide conditions for the delivery of his goods or services to the entirety of the Portuguese territory, not being prevented from proposing different delivery conditions, namely regarding delivery costs.
The trader also cannot apply different conditions to payment transactions, within the scope of the payment instruments that it accepts, for reasons related to the place of residence, the place of establishment of the consumer in the Portuguese territory, the location of the payment account, or with the place of establishment of the payment service provider.
ASAE and the regional authorities with competence in the scope of economic supervision are responsible for supervising compliance with the provisions of this Law. Infringement of the provisions of this diploma, namely of articles 4 - 6, constitutes a minor or a serious offense.
This law enters into force 60 days after its publication, that is, on March 11, 2022.
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