Portuguese Competition Law Key Developments

In 2023, Portugal continued to be an active jurisdiction in relation to both public and private enforcement of competition law, with some of the key highlights described below.

Constitutional Court rules that PCA practice of seeking search warrants from Public Prosecutor is unconstitutional.

The PCA suffered a significant setback in March 2023 when the Constitutional Court held that its practice of obtaining search warrants from the Public Prosecutor instead of from a judge was unconstitutional. The issue was put before the Constitutional Court in the context of the case that originated the PCA's overarching hub and spoke investigation (which has resulted in 10 infringement decisions and nearly €700 million in fines). The PCA's interpretation of the applicable rules was that if it only seized emails that were opened and not emails that were unread, a warrant from a Public Prosecutor was sufficient. The Constitutional Court rejected this interpretation. The court