New rules for electronic service on companies and individuals

Decree-Law 87/2024 of November 7 was published in the Portuguese Official Gazette, establishing a new and innovative legal framework for the electronic service for companies and individuals in legal proceedings, establishing electronic service as the rule for companies, while allowing individuals to opt for this method of service if they so wish.

Objectives

The main objective of this law is to strengthen the dematerialization and streamlining of court proceedings, eliminating legal constraints and entropies that existed at this early stage of the process, making the process and its handling more modern in today’s digital age.

Harmonization of service and notification rules

In view of this new legal framework provided for in the Code of Civil Procedure, the rules on notification have also been harmonized, as well as the rules on service and notification in the Insolvency and Company Recovery Code, the Code of Procedure in Administrative Courts, and the Code of Labor Procedure.

Amendments to the fax and telegram regime

The current system of faxes and telegrams has also been amended in order to adapt the means of communication of the courts to the current technological reality, and the use of faxes and telegrams in communications sent by or to the courts is no longer permitted.

Entry into force and transitional period

Decree-Law 87/2024, of November 7, will enter into force on November 10, with a transitional period of 6 months and some exceptions to the date of entry into force of certain provisions of the Decree-Law. Several provisions of the Decree-Law are still subject to subsequent regulation.

Main lines of the new legal regime for electronic service

Below, we summarize the main lines that define the new legal framework for electronic service, applicable to companies (and other legal persons whose registration in the RNPC’s central file of legal entities is mandatory) and individuals, in legal proceedings governed by the Code of Civil Procedure, which are important to know because of their innovation and impact, especially for companies, as this is a rule and in a matter so relevant to the exercise of the right of defense.

Service on companies 

• General rule: electronic service
  • Registration:
    • Service by electronic means is subject to the prior registration of the email address that the legal entity wishes to associate with its digital reserved access area, under the conditions to be regulated in a statute to be approved by the Government within 90 days of the entry into force of this Decree-Law.
  • Electronic notice:
    • The service shall be done electronically by making it available in a digital reserved access area.
    • This will be accompanied by a notice sent to the email address, informing the recipient that the service has been made available for consultation in the reserved area.
  • Consultation and data of service:
    • The electronic system supporting the activity of the courts certifies the date on which the service was made available in the reserved area and the date of electronic consultation of the service in this area.
    • If the service is consulted electronically in the reserved area, this is the date on which the summons is deemed to have been served.
    • If the service is not consulted within eight days of it being made available in the reserved area, the summons shall be deemed to have been served on that date and the notice of the availability of the service in the digital reserved area shall be sent by mail to the address of the respective registered office to ensure that the company is aware that the summons is available for consultation in the reserved area.
    • The sending of this notice does not interrupt or suspend the period in which the company is deemed to have been served, but in these cases the defense period benefits from a variable extension with a maximum duration of 30 days (if the summons is consulted electronically within 30 days of the date on which it is deemed to have been served, the defense period begins to run from that consultation, the days already elapsed being considered as an extension of this period).
• Safeguard system: service by mail
  
  Given the innovative nature of the regime now approved and the predominance of small and medium-sized companies in the Portuguese market, the provision for electronic service as a general rule for legal entities is accompanied by a series of safeguards to ensure that their right of defense is not compromised.
  • Lack of registration:
    • If the legal entity does not register an email address to be associated with its reserved area, the summons will be served by mail, by sending a (single) letter with acknowledgement of receipt, which, if not received, will be deposited in its mailbox.
    • The cost of the postal service shall be borne by the legal entity to be served.

Service on individuals

• Optional regime: electronic service
  • Registration:
    • Individuals may, as an alternative to service by mail, choose to be served in legal proceedings by electronic means, and to do so they must register their email address in accordance with the conditions laid down for legal entities.
  • Consultation and data of service:
    • Service by electronic means is deemed to have taken place on the date of the electronic consultation in the reserved access area.
  • Electronic notice:
    • Individuals will also receive a notice at their email address when the summons is made available in their reserved area and a postal notice if there is no electronic consultation within the following eight days.
  • Frustration of service:
    • If service by electronic means is frustrated because it is not consulted within 30 days, service is made by an enforcement agent.

Conclusion

The changes now introduced, which have an impact on such a critical phase for the effective exercise of companies’ rights of defense when faced with the initiation of legal proceedings against them, require companies and their directors to be more diligent in terms of organization in this matter, under penalty of the precluding their rights of defense.