Internal Market and Competition: Thoughts on the Portuguese Experience

According to the Constitution of the Portuguese Republic (CPR), one of the primary duties of the State is “to ensure the efficient operation of the markets, in such a way as to guarantee a balanced competition between businesses, counter monopolistic forms of organization and repress abuses of dominant positions and other practices that are harmful to the general interest” (art. 81? of the CPR).European integration has led to substantial changes in Portuguese legislation. Portuguese antitrust regulation is inspired by the rules adopted by the European Union, the decisions of the European Commission, and the rulings of the European Court. Very important changes occurred in 2003, with the creation of the independent Competition Authority (Autoridade da Concorrencia) and by the new competition law (Law n? 18/2003). Recently, the regulation of competition has been changed. This reform took place with Law n? 19/2012, May 8. The reform is the result of the investigation and research of the Portuguese doctrine and the Competition Authority in recent years. It also comes from the conditions imposed by the Memorandum of Understanding on financial aid signed by Portugal in 2011. The present research highlights recent experience with competition law in Portugal in view of its alignment with the European Union regulations and practices. To do so, special attention is given here to the decisions of the competent authorities. Besides public enforcement, this article analyzes the “state-of-the-art” in terms of private enforcement of competition law in Portugal .In this time of crises, is competition a tool for economic recovery or must legal standards be relaxed? The priorities of the competition policy seem to suggest that the Portuguese Competition Authority sees this competition policy as a tool for competitiveness.