Coronavirus: Amendment to the exceptional and temporary measures with an impact on civil procedure

The international public health emergency due to the new Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has led to the urgent and successive introduction of a range of legislative measures. These measures are an exceptional and temporary response to the pandemic in Portugal and they include the declaration of a state of emergency across the whole country that has already been extended twice.

The urgency in approving various legislative packages and the reaction by different sectors has understandably led to the legislation issued by the Government or by the Assembly of the Republic being reviewed and, where advisable, amended or clarified.

In the justice sector and, in particular, with an impact on civil proceedings, some of the exceptional and temporary measures implemented by Decree-Law 10-A/2020 of 13 March and by Law 1-A/2020 of 19 March gave rise to questions of interpretation or required an enhanced solution. Law 4-A/2020 of 6 April, which came into force on 7 April, sought to clarify and refine some of these measures by amending the legislation in question.

This note addresses the main impacts of these measures.