Portugal approves new data protection law

On Thursday 13 June, at her GDPR 1st Anniversary Conference in Brussels, Věra Jourová, European Commissioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality, cited Greece, Portugal and Slovenia as EU Member States which had not yet implemented the GDPR into national law. She promised uniform application of the GDPR across the EU but national governments should be the first to take responsibility. She said: “The European Commission is assessing all the details of national laws. We must avoid fragmentation. The Commission will not tolerate gold plating.”

The following day, 14 June, Portugal adopted its new data protection law, “Lei de Execução do Regulamento Geral sobre a Proteção de Dados” in English “Execution Law of the General Data Protection Regulation.” To enter into force, the new law must be signed by the President and then published in the Official Journal. It will then enter into force a day after publication in the Official Journal.

Inês Antas de Barros, Managing Associate and Isabel Ornelas, Lawyer, Vieira de Almeida, Lisbon provided this news and will give a presentation on Portugal’s new law and on trends in Africa at GDPR’s influence ripples around the world, Privacy Laws & Business’s 32nd Annual International Conference, 1-3 July at St. John’s College, Cambridge.