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(Information as of 7 June 2005)
Date of deposit of instrument of ratification/acceptance or date of accession
Portugal ratified the Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions on 31 March, 2000 and deposited its instrument of ratification on 21 November, 2000.
Deposit of instrument of ratification/acceptance: 23 November 2000
Entry into force of the Convention: 22 January 2001
Entry into force of implementing legislation: 9 June 2001
Implementing legislation
Identification of the law
Law nº 13/2001- Implementing Law; transposes the wording of the Convention into domestic law. Prior to the signing of the Convention, the Portuguese Criminal Code, as well as the Law nº 34/87 of 16 July, already criminalized offences of active and passive bribery of domestic public officials. However it was necessary to create a specific offence in order to criminalize the active bribery of a foreign public official.
The Law nº 13/2001, of 4 July, establishes the offence of active corruption against international business and this implementing legislation also makes necessary amendments regarding money laundering and jurisdiction.
Following the above-mentioned law, in November 2001, the Criminal Code was amended and the crimes of active bribery, of passive bribery for the commission of an unlawful act and of passive bribery for the commission of a lawful act are punished in equal terms, either when the crime is committed by a domestic public official or when it is committed by a foreign public official.
Date of adoption and date of entry into force
04-06-2001.
Other relevant Laws, regulations or decrees that have an impact on a country’s implementation of the OCDE Convention or the Recommendations
Law Nº 108/2001, 28 November, 11th amendment to the Criminal Code and to Law Nº 34/87: this law introduces, among others, some modifications to the legal regime applicable to crimes of corruption and traffic in influence and extending the scope of domestic public officials to include certain foreign public officials.
Law on the organization and functioning of the political parties nº 1/2001, August 14th, modifies the financing regime of the political parties and elections campaigns.
Decree of the President of the Republic nº 58/2001, November 15th, ratifying the Convention on the Fight against Corruption in which officials of the European Communities or of the Member States of the European Union are implied.
Law nº 10/2002, February 11th, improves legal provisions destined to prevent and to punish money laundering as a result of criminal activities.
Law nº 5/2002 establishes measures to fight against organized and economic- finance crime.
Law nº 52/2003 on measures to fight against terrorism.
Signature/ratification of other relevant international documents
Notice nº 60/2002, made public that the Portuguese Government deposited the ratification instrument of the European Council Criminal Convention on Corruption on 7 May, signed in Strasbourg on 30 April 1999.
In December 2003, Portugal signed the UN Convention against Corruption.
Portugal has ratified the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and deposited the ratification instrument on 10 May 2004.
Other information
Relevant authorities
Information on bribery offences must be reported to the Public Prosecutors Office. They can also be reported to the Criminal Police.
Relevant Internet links to national implementation legislation
www.digesto.pt
www.infocid.pt
www.eusoujurista.pt
Working Group on Bribery Monitoring Reports
Phase 1: Review of Implementation of the Convention and 1997 Recommendation
http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/51/59/2088284.pdf
The recently approved Law Nº 11/2004 of March 27 contains the relevant provisions on money laundering and amends the Criminal Code by adding a new article that includes the definition and punishment of the crime, which was already incorporated in a special criminal law. Prior to this amendment, the Decree Law nº 325/95 already contained the definition of the offence as well as the penalties, however this new law adds some predicate offences to the list of predicate offences to money laundering, as well as defines the entire money laundering criminal regime.
Thus, article 368-A of the Criminal Code, which penalises acts of money laundering, enumerates a number of predicate offences including corruption, drug and human beings trafficking and sexual abuse of children or minors.
Any person who, knowing that certain goods and products proceed from criminal offences amounting to qualified procuring, sexual abuse of children and dependant minors, extortion, drug trafficking, firearms trafficking, trafficking in organs or in human tissues, trafficking in protected species, tax fraud, trafficking in influence, corruption or any other offence mentioned in paragraph 1 of Article 1º of Law Nº 36/94 of 29 September and all the illicit and typical facts punished with minimum term imprisonment superior to 6 months or maximum term imprisonment of more than 5 years, directly or indirectly converts, transfers, assists in or facilitates any conversion or transfer of all or part of such goods or products in order, either to conceal or dissimulate its illegal origin, or to assist any person involved in committing any such offences to avoid legal consequences of his or her behaviour, conceals or dissimulates the true nature, origin, whereabouts, layout, movement or ownership of such goods or products or rights pertaining thereto, shall be liable to imprisonment for a term of 2 to 12 years.
Under the Law Nº11/2004, certain financial institutions (including banking and non banking institutions) and certain non-financial institutions performing activities linked to gambling or to the trade of goods of high value or immovable property (e.g. casinos, real estate agents) are submitted to a determined number of administrative obligations, such as to identify the person involved in transactions exceeding a certain amount, retain the evidence for identification and report suspected money laundering transactions to the competent judicial authority, among others.
There were similar obligations present in the previous law- n° 36/94 of 29 September, however the new law n° 11/2004 has widened the scope of the entities that are subject to these report and identification obligations and has clarify these obligation.
Phase 1: Review of Implementation of the Convention and 1997 Recommendation
http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/51/59/2088284.pdf
Phase 2: Report on the Application of the Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions and the 1997 Recommendation on Combating Bribery in International Business Transactions
http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/28/24/38320110.pdf
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