Guidelines On The Settlement Procedure Published By The Portuguese Competition Authority

The Portuguese Competition Authority ("PCA") has recently published the Guidelines on the Settlement Procedure ("Guidelines"), in the context of administrative proceedings for infringements of the competition law (Law no. 19/2012, of 8 May, hereinafter " Portuguese Competition Act ") and Articles 101 and 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, as well as in the context of a sanctioning procedure relating to merger control (also provided for in the Portuguese Competition Act ).

With the publication of these guidelines, which did not exist until now, the PCA completed one of the final steps of the reviewing process of various regulatory acts and guidelines the PCA had been committed to under the latest amendment to the Competition Act (introduced by Law no. 17/2022 of 17 August).