Member Article

The international public health emergency caused by the Coronavirus (COVID-19) was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization and the Portuguese authorities recently announced of a state of emergency across the country. Against this background, the authorities have been approving various packages of exceptional and temporary measures to respond to the spread of the virus.

The international public health emergency caused by the Coronavirus (COVID-19) was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization and the Portuguese authorities recently announced of a state of emergency across the country. Against this background, the authorities have been approving various packages of exceptional and temporary measures to respond to the spread of the virus.

In view of the fast and unpredictable development of this situation and the urgency in implementing response measures in various areas severely affected by the public health crisis we are facing, in Portugal as in other countries, these measures have been being approved on an almost dailybasis.

More specifically, in the justice sector and with an impact on civil proceedings, Law no. 1-A/2020 of 18 March was published on 19 March. ThisLaw, together with Decree-Law no. 10-A/2020 of 13March, establishes, among others, an exceptional system for carrying out procedural steps, calculating procedural time limits and with regard to specific grounds as reasonable excuses for not carrying out or attending procedural acts. This legislation will remain in force until the exceptional situation for the prevention, mitigation and treatment of COVID-19 disease has ended. The end of the situation and, with it, the end of the temporary system approved in this legislative package, must be declared by a decree-law.

1. Temporary rules for calculating procedural time limits

What will then happen to the procedural time limits and steps in civil proceedings?

In non-urgent cases:

• Procedural time limits are suspended by application of the rules on court holidays and, as a rule, no procedural acts are done, with the exception of automatic acts (for example, the distribution of cases to the appropriate courts).

• Acts can be done by means of distance communication (for example, teleconferences or video calls), provided the court has the technology to do so.

• Although the law is not clear, it also appears that procedural acts may be done by electronic means (using the Citius platform), although the procedural time limits for this are suspended.

• Where the conditions are met, the following acts continue to be done:

i) Service of process and notifications;

ii) Records of attachment/seizure;

iii) Acts intended to avoid irreparable damage (for example. some attachments/seizures that meet these requirements).

• Where the conditions are met, in particular where, for health reasons, judges are not prevented from doing so, judgments and even some orders will hopefully be handed down. This is common practice during court holidays, and some judges have already shown their willingness to do so, recalling that they are not on holiday.

For complete article reading, access here