The Portuguese Government has put in place a Fund for the Systemic Sustainability of the Energy Sector aiming at reducing the Portuguese tariff deficit. This deficit is the result of a long term policy of power utilities support  through complex compensation schemes (including but not limited to those known as CMEC) payable by consumers.
Energy utilities will now be called to contribute with an extraordinary contribution (a new tax already foreseen in the 2014 Budget Law) that will be used to partially replace the CMEC and to acquire tariff credits from energy companies.

The Portuguese Government approved the specifications of the public tender for the reprivatisation of Empresa Geral de Fomento, S.A. (EGF), the waste management unit of the State-owned water and waste group Águas de Portugal.

The tender specifications set out the sale of 95% of the share capital of EGF (the remaining 5% are reserved to EGF's employees) and allow the submission of tenders by national and foreign investors, individually or in consortia, that fulfil certain technical, management, suitability and financial requirements.

2014-01-31

We have several positions to fill and are currently looking for trainees, junior associates and associates.
Desired skills and experience:

  1. Proficiency in English
  2. Pro-active
  3. Responsible
  4. Organized
  5. Detail oriented
  6. Immediate availability

To apply please follow the link below:
http://www.macedovitorino.com/pt/recrutamento/candidatura-a-estagios/

Or send us an email with your Curriculum Vitae:
estagios@macedovitorino.com

Good luck!

The Lisbon Court of Appeal confirmed the decisions of the Portuguese Competition Authority and the Commercial Court and condemned the Bar Association of Chartered Accountants (Ordem dos Técnicos Oficiais de Contas - "OTOC") to pay fine in the amount of 90,000 euros for anticompetitive practices on the market of compulsory training for Chartered Accountants.

The OTOC was condemned for adopting a training credits regulation that almost exclusively reserved to the OTOC the training of its members. The Lisbon Court of Appeal considered that this regulation was a decision of an association of undertakings prohibited by national and European competition laws, as it eliminates competition on the market to the detriment of third training providers.

The Government approved the final terms of the first stage of the privatisation procedure of the Portuguese postal operator, CTT - Correios de Portugal, S.A. (CTT), which will include the sale of up 70% of the share capital owned by Parpública - Participações Públicas, S.G.P.S., S.A. (Parpública) through an Initial Public Offering (IPO) and a direct institutional sale.
Pursuant to Resolution 72-B/2013, of 18 November 2013, in the IPO, which started on 19 November 2013 and will end on 2 December 2013, Parpública will sell 21,000,000 shares, of which 5,250,000 shares are reserved to CTT group employees. The price of the shares placed in the IPO will be set between € 4.10 and € 5.52, with employees benefiting from a 5% discount. In the direct institutional sale, Parpública will sell 84,000,000 shares to the following banking institutions: Caixa - Banco de Investimento, S.A., J.P. Morgan Securities PLC, Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria, S.A. e Banco Espírito Santo de Investimento, S.A.. The price per share may be higher (but not lower) than the price set out in the IPO.
The Prospectus of the IPO provides that CTT will distribute 90% of its net profit as dividends.

The Portuguese Government approved the conditions for the privatisation of up to 70% of CTT - Correios de Portugal, S.A. (CTT), the Portuguese postal operator.
The privatisation will consist of an IPO combined with a direct sale to banking institutions with CTT's employees benefiting from a call option regarding 5% of the shares.

A recent change to the Portuguese Communications Law (enacted by Law no. 42/2013, of 3 July 2013) establishes that network and service providers shall only have the obligation to bar access to audio-text services and to the following SMS and MMS-based value-added services ("VAS"):
(i) Services consisting of more than one message or of periodic messages; or
(ii) services with erotic or sexual content.
Users must request the network or service provider to lift the blocking of these VAS and to bar other active VAS now accessible by default. Providers must attend these requests  within 24 hours, with no additional charge.
These new rules come to effect on 17 August 2013 but since 3 July 2013 providers must inform subscribers of the new rules and particularly that they must request the barring of access to any additional VAS that from now on will become accessible by default.

Portugal reinforces support to investment with new tax incentives to agricultural, forest, agroindustry and tourism projects.
A new Investment Support Tax Regime (Regime Fiscal de Apoio ao Investimento) grants CIT deductions and exemption from Municipal Real Estate Transfer Tax and Stamp Duty and a new tax incentives for research and business development (SIFIDE II) is created for the period from for 2013 to 2015.

The Portuguese Government passed Decree-Law no. 58/2013, of 8 May 2013, which set out new rules applicable to credit transactions, which will limit default interest rates to 3% plus the agreed interest rate, allow the capitalisation of interest for minimum periods of one month and prohibit late payment fees.
The new rules will apply to all credit transactions (including, among others, consumer loans, mortgage and corporate loans) entered into by banks and financial companies subject to the supervision of the Bank of Portugal and will enter into force on 5 September 2013.

The Portuguese Government has implemented Directive 2003/87/EC, of 13 October on greenhouse gas emissions permits.
According to Decree-Law no. 38/2013 of 15 March, the Portuguese Environment Agency (Agência Portuguesa do Ambiente) (APA) will be responsible for granting gratuitous greenhouse gas emissions permit, managing the Portuguese Registry of Emission Permits, which is integrated in the Union Registry and also technical management of the Portuguese Carbon Fund.
The operators of greenhouse gas emitting plants that carry out any of the activities listed in Annex II of the Decree-Law must mandatorily own a greenhouse gas emissions permit (título de emissão de gases com efeito de estufa) (TEGEE). The request for a TEGEE must be submitted with the competent authority responsible for the permitting procedure by filling in a specific form made available by APA on their internet website.