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On the 7th of June of 2022, it entered into force the Portuguese General Regime for the Prevention of Corruption (RGPC), applicable not only to legal persons with registered offices in Portugal, but also to branches in Portuguese territory of legal persons with registered offices abroad, provided that, in both cases, such entities employ 50 or more employees.
With the entry into force of this legal act, the abovementioned entities were obliged to implement a Regulatory Compliance Programme (“Programa de Cumprimento Normativo”) which consists of at least four instruments: a plan for the prevention of risks of corruption and related offences, a code of conduct, a training programme, and a whistleblowing channel.
On July 7th of 2023, the National Anti-Corruption Mechanism (MENAC) published the recommendation no. 2/2023, informing the obligated entities of the form of supervision it will adopt to assess compliance with this obligation to adopt a regulatory compliance program, namely through the creation of a informatic platform for the submission of these documents by these entities, so that they can be analyzed by MENAC. This platform is in the final stages of development and is expected to be available soon.
On August 17th, 2023, MENAC's internal operating regulations were published, with highlight to its supervisory and sanctioning powers.
The urgent adoption of a regulatory compliance program is therefore extremely important, since failure to do so can be sanctioned by MENAC under its supervisory powers, which are exercised by analyzing the regulatory compliance programs submitted on the agency's informatic platform, and companies can be sanctioned with fines ranging from €2,000.00 to €44,891.81.