Portugal: Legal Implications of COVID-19

The current pandemic caused by SARS CoV-2 and COVID-19 has, in an unexpected and overwhelming way, affected the daily lives of companies and citizens, the economy and the financial system. The exceptional public health situation we are living through is accompanied by the application of extraordinary and urgent measures, against the backdrop of growing concern about a coming global recession.

The circumstances in which Portugal and the rest of the world find themselves raise countless legal questions, which must be individually identified, placed systematically and answered clearly to address the concerns and the problems that affect economic agents. The challenges brought on by this crisis demand a heightened level of analysis and critical thinking, forcing the search for innovative solutions and recall lessons and knowledge from other crises, among new and old laws, all from a broad, integrated and multidisciplinary perspective which is open to a global view of the world.

These are also our missions and our commitments in this Information Note. Prepared by a multidisciplinary team from Morais Leitão, Galvão Teles, Soares da Silva & Associados, this note aims to provide our clients and the market with a useful guide and a discussion paper on common concerns. In this paper, then, we intend to contextualise and clarify some of the most urgent questions that economic agents are now faced with and shall seek to update the information provided with the emergence of other relevant data.

Likewise, with the purpose of designing solutions and finding specialist answers in this demanding time, Morais Leitão has also set up a transversal group dedicated to monitoring the crisis generated by the new coronavirus, in its various aspects, which is available to clarify any doubts or additional questions.

To read the Information Note, click here.

For more information on these articles or any other issues involving labour and employment matters in Portugal, please contact Helena Tapp Barroso (Partner) or Pedro Pardal Goulã (Partner) of Morais Leitão at htb@mlgts.pt or pgoulao@mlgts.pt or visit www.mlgts.pt.

For more information please contact Joseph Granato, Communications Manager at L&E Global at joseph.granato@leglobal.org.