Enforcement of Judgments 2024 Comparisons

There are several databases available used by enforcement agents (but not for public access) to search and identify the asset position of another party against which enforcement is being sought. These include the following.

• Enforcement Online Registry (Registo Informático de Execuções).
• Databases of the Tax Authority.
• Databases of the Social Security.
• Public registry information such as real estate registry, commercial registry, car vehicle registry, moral persons registry, or civil registry.
• Databases of the Bank of Portugal.

Subject to judicial authorisation, Portuguese law also provides for the possibility of accessing information subject to confidentiality regimes.

Portuguese law allows the creditor to seek interim attachment orders prior to the enforcement proceedings if there is a danger that the debtor might disappear or become insolvent prior to the satisfaction of the underlying obligation. If successful, the interim attachment will be ordered without prior hearing of the debtor.

Different categories of decisions may be considered to be within the broader concept of domestic judgment according to Portuguese law. As a general rule, Portuguese law provides that any orders, decisions or acts of a judge that impose obligations and require compliance by an addressee are equivalent to judgments.

The following types of domestic judgments can be found in the Portuguese legal system:

• declaratory judgments (aimed at assessing whether a situation, right or fact exists or not);
• condemnation judgments (aimed at ordering the addressee to make a payment, perform or refrain from an action, or deliver an object);
• constitutive judgments (aimed at introducing a change in the existing legal order); and
• enforcement judgments (aimed at ensuring the coercive performance of an obligation).

Interim relief is also available whenever one party has a justified fear that another party may cause serious and irreparable damage to its rights. In these instances, the plaintiff shall demonstrate in court the probable existence of the asserted right and invoke a set of facts that justify its fear of irreparable damage and the need for urgency.

Enforcement of domestic judgments, when voluntarily not complied with, will proceed by filing a legal action against the debtor. It may take the form of standard legal proceedings (such as enforcement for the payment of a sum of money) or special proceedings (such as enforcement in relation to maintenance). Standard legal proceedings may be of ordinary, summary or singular character according to the purpose of enforcement and title of enforcement involved.

Both courts and enforcement agents are responsible for judicial enforcement proceedings. However, Portuguese law also provides for an optional pre-enforcement extrajudicial procedure, conducted by enforcement agents, to which the creditor may resort to when certain requirements are fulfilled.

To enforce a domestic judgment, the creditor must file an enforcement application with the same court that handed down the judgment (as a rule, there are specialised sections of the court for enforcement proceedings). The procedure can be summarised as follows.

• Submission of the application for enforcement of a judgment in the competent court. In this application, the creditor may appoint an enforcement agent.
• The enforcement agent will be responsible for most enforcement tasks not assigned to a judge, such as: summons, notifications, publication, database consultation, seizures and records of seizures, settlements and payments.
• The choice of enforcement measures will depend on the purpose of enforcement (payment of a sum of money, delivery of a certain object, or performance of an act). In general, measures such as seizure, sale, payment, delivery of an object, and performance of the act by another person at expense of the debtor are available. As a rule, all of the seizable debtor’s assets are subject to enforcement measures (this includes real estate, movable property, credits, securities, bank deposits, and shares in companies).
• In most cases (depending on the type of title) the enforcement measures will be taken before service to the debtor.
• The debtor may challenge the enforcement request by raising objections to enforcement within 20 days from the date of the summons.
• Once seizures are executed, the debtor may object on the grounds described in 2.5 Challenging Enforcement of Domestic Judgments.

The length of time to enforce a domestic judgment may vary depending on the competent court, the purpose of the enforcement and the availability of seizable assets of the debtor. In general, a period of six to 12 months is to be expected to run the enforcement proceedings and execute the asset seizures.

Commencement of enforcement proceedings is subject to the payment of court fees, varying between EUR204 to EUR612.

If the debtor objects to the enforcement proceedings or to the seizure, court fees will also be due, ranging between EUR306 and EUR612.

In enforcement proceedings the costs borne with the enforcement agent must also be taken into consideration. The latter is remunerated on the basis of a fixed fee, acts performed and debt amount recovered. Fixed fees are low, but fees based on the amount of debt recovered are calculated on a percentage basis, ranging from 4% to 10%.

Under Portuguese law, the appointed enforcement agent shall – prior to seizure actions – start by accessing the information available on the Enforcement Online Registry (Registo Informático de Execuções). This will serve to determine whether there have been past enforcement proceedings moved against the same debtor in the last three years and that may have concluded without full payment of the creditor’s credit. When this has been the case, if the creditor fails in its enforcement application to indicate debtor’s assets for seizure and if the enforcement agent fails in its efforts to identify those assets, the enforcement proceedings may terminate within ten days from the creditor being notified of this outcome.

If the Enforcement Online Registry provides no indication as to past unsuccessful enforcement proceedings, the enforcement agent enjoys a period of three months to search and locate the debtor’s seizable assets, running from the date of notification by the court’s registrar to commence pre-seizure actions. If within this period its efforts fail to identify those assets, both the creditor and the debtor will be notified to provide a list of seizable assets. If neither does so, the enforcement proceedings will be terminated.

The debtor may challenge the enforcement request by raising objections to enforcement within 20 days from the date of the summons. The grounds to object to the enforcement of a domestic judgment are specified by law and include:

• unenforceability or inexistence of the judgment;
• forgery or inaccuracy of the file or of the certified copy;
• breach of a procedural requirement on which the regularity of the enforcement proceedings depends;
• non-participation of the defendant in the declaratory process by reason of the summons not being served, the summons being null and void, unawareness of the summons not attributable to the debtor, or any other force majeure event;
• uncertainty, unenforceability or non-liquidity of the underlying obligation;
• post-judgment facts or events leading to the extinction or modification of the underlying obligation;
• counterclaim by the debtor against the creditor to the effect of offsetting the obligation being enforced; and
• any ground of nullity or voidability of acts of admission or settlement, when the domestic judgment being enforced consists in the approval of those acts.

Besides challenging the enforcement request, the debtor may also object to the seizure of its assets on the following grounds:

• seizure of non-seizable assets;
• inadequate scope of the seizure;
• seizure of assets that only subsidiarily satisfy the debt being enforced; and
• seizure of assets that should not have been affected by the seizure according to the applicable substantive law.

Finally, an appeal from decisions taken within the enforcement proceedings may also be available depending on the circumstances of the case. This will hold in particular for interlocutory declarations such as:

• decisions ordering the cancellation of a registration;
• decisions ruling on the exercise of the right of priority or redemption;
• decisions suspending, extinguishing or annulling enforcement;
• decisions ruling on the annulment of the sale of assets; and
• decisions refusing to examine or dismissing the enforcement application.

Portuguese law provides that enforcement can only be sought in regards of obligations which are certain, enforceable and liquid. If the certainty and enforceability of the underlying obligation do not clearly result from the domestic judgment, the enforcement proceedings will start with a phase aimed at analysing whether that is the case or not. If the underlying obligation is not yet liquid, an incident of liquidation will be provoked.

Moreover, Portuguese law provides the only final judgments may be enforced. Final judgments are those against which an appeal can no longer be lodged.

Time limitations should also be taken into consideration when enforcing domestic judgments. If the underlying obligation is no longer enforceable because it is time-barred in accordance with Portuguese law, the debtor may object to the enforcement proceedings on that ground. The general limitation period in Portugal is 20 years, but certain obligations are subject to shorter limitation periods.

There is no central register of all judgments. However, there is a database of available judgments issued by second and last instance courts (Courts of Appeal and Supreme Court of Justice, respectively). This publicly available database provides the text of the respective court’s judgments, with all personal and corporate details being anonymised. There is no mechanism by which a party can request the text of the judgment to be withdrawn from the database.

Moreover, there is an Enforcement Online Registry containing a list of pending, suspended or past enforcement proceedings against debtors. This database is searchable by request to competent court’s registrar. The request is to be presented by a person with an interest in accessing the available data, such as an enforcement agent or the creditor herself. In absence of consent by the debtor (as data subject), access can be authorised by a judge of law. This database keeps the data for a period of ten years. However, if the enforcement proceedings conclude with full payment of the debt, the enforcement record will be officially erased from the database.

Finally, there is also a Public List of Enforcement Proceedings containing a list of enforcement proceedings that have concluded with no payment or only partial payment of the debt. This database is publicly accessible online and can be searched by any citizen. The information recorded therein will be officially erased after a period of five years from the conclusion of the enforcement proceedings. In case the debtor fulfils its obligation towards the creditor, the information will also be automatically erased from the database.

The enforcement of foreign judgments in Portugal may be subject to different legal frameworks and/or regimes, depending on the jurisdiction of origin of the foreign judgment (EU or non-EU foreign judgment). Accordingly, three sets of laws might have to be considered:

• Portuguese national law (especially civil procedure law);
• European Union law; and
• international law (either in the form of multilateral and/or bilateral conventions).

As regards Portuguese national law, it will mostly be relevant for the enforcement of foreign judgments not covered by other legal regimes (ie, not subject to European Union regulations or international conventions).

As a member state of the European Union, Portugal is bound to EU Regulations on the enforcement of foreign judgments. The following are worth highlighting.

• Regulation (EU) No 1215/2012 of 6 December 2012 (the “Brussels Recast Regulation”). Regulation (EC) No 44/2001 (the “New Brussels I Regulation”) continues to apply to the recognition and enforcement of all judgments rendered in proceedings initiated before 10 January 2015.
• Regulation (EC) No 2201/2003 of 27 November 2003 concerning jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments in matrimonial matters and matters of parental responsibility.
• Regulation (EC) No 4/2009 of 18 December 2008 on jurisdiction, applicable law, recognition and enforcement of decisions and co-operation in matters relating to maintenance obligations.
• Regulation (EU) No 650/2012 of 4 July 2012 on jurisdiction, applicable law, recognition and enforcement of decisions and acceptance and enforcement of authentic instruments in matters of succession and on the creation of a European Certificate of Succession.
• Regulation (EU) No 2015/848 of 20 May 2015, on insolvency proceedings, then amended by Regulation (EU) 2021/2260.
• Regulation (EC) No 1896/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 December 2006 creating a European Order for Payment Procedure, amended by Regulation (EU) No 2015/242.
• Regulation (EC) No 861/2007 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 July 2007 establishing a European Small Claims Procedure (up to EUR2,000), amended by the Commission delegated Regulation (EU) 2017/1259 of 19 June 2017.
• Regulation (EC) No 805/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 April 2004 creating a European Enforcement Order (EEO) for uncontested claims (the “European Enforcement Order Regulation”).

At the international level, Portugal is a signatory to the following conventions relevant for the enforcement of foreign judgments originating from non-EU countries.

• Convention on Jurisdiction and the Recognition and Enforcement of Judgments in Civil and Commercial Matters of the European Community with Iceland, Norway and Switzerland of 30 October 2007 (“Lugano Convention”).
• Hague Convention of 30 June 2005 on Choice of Court Agreements (“2005 Hague Choice of Court Convention”).
• Hague Convention of 2 July 2019 on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Judgments in Civil or Commercial Matters (“2019 Hague Judgments Convention”).
• Bilateral conventions on judicial co-operation in civil and commercial matters (with special rules the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments) concluded with Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Sao Tome and Principe, and Macau.

Variations in approach to the enforcement of foreign judgments arise depending on their jurisdiction of origin, since the latter will determine the applicable legal framework.

Judgments from EU member states falling within the scope of the aforementioned Regulations have the effect provided therein. In particular, EU judgments in civil and commercial matters to which the Recast Brussels Regulation is applicable are automatically recognised and enforceable in Portugal, without the need for a special procedure or declaration of enforceability. The same holds for decisions on matrimonial matters made in one EU member state, which must also be recognised and enforced in Portugal without following any special procedures pursuant to Regulation (EC) No 2201/2003.

For EU judgments not covered by the Regulations or for non-EU foreign judgments, the approach to recognition and enforcement will be determined by Portuguese civil procedure law or by the rules laid out in international multilateral or bilateral conventions.

In absence of an applicable international multilateral or bilateral convention, the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments is subject to a special procedure of revision and confirmation governed by the Portuguese Civil Procedure Code. The Portuguese system is qualified as one of mere formal revision of the foreign judgment. This means that the Portuguese court will only verify that the foreign judgment is compliant with applicable form requirements, without delving into the merits of the judicial decision at stake. This is also known as an exequatur proceeding. Portuguese case law on recognition of foreign judgments has admitted a so-called privilege of nationality as a ground for the opposition to the request for recognition, as provided for in Portuguese civil procedural law. This allows a party to oppose the request for recognition in cases in which the foreign judgment was issued against a physical or moral person of Portuguese nationality if the latter is able to demonstrate that the result of the legal action would have been more favourable to her should the foreign court have applied Portuguese substantive law (whenever the latter could be deemed as the applicable law pursuant to Portuguese private international law rules).

It is also worth noting that foreign judgments in criminal matters follow a special procedure laid out in the Portuguese Criminal Procedure Code.

Should an international multilateral or bilateral convention be applicable, recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments falling within its scope are bound to the special rules laid therein.

In general, Portuguese law does not distinguish between categories of foreign judgments for purposes of recognition and enforcement.

Foreign judgments falling outside either of the scope of EU Regulations or of multilateral and/or bilateral international conventions signed by Portugal, will be subject to a special procedure of revision and confirmation governed by Portuguese civil procedural law. These rules set out a number of requirements that the foreign judgment must meet to be recognised and enforced in Portugal. The following categories of foreign judgments will not be enforced:

• if the judgment is not final under the law of the jurisdiction where it was issued;
• if the defendant was not served with the claim in accordance with the law of the foreign court;
• if the principles of adversarial proceedings and equality of the parties were not observed; and
• if recognition leads to a result that is manifestly incompatible with the Portuguese principles of international public order. Portuguese international public policy includes those legal principles taken as absolutely essential and indispensable to the Portuguese legal system.

Subject to special regimes set out by bilateral or multilateral conventions, the legal framework under which a foreign judgment rendered outside the EU may be recognised and confirmed in Portugal is the Portuguese Code of Civil Procedure. The procedure to seek recognition may be summarised as follows.

• The creditor of the foreign judgment will seek an exequatur in accordance with the rules of the special procedure for the revision and confirmation of a foreign judgment. This legal action aims at merely confirming that the foreign judgment fulfils all requirements to be recognised and enforced as a judicial order in the Portuguese legal system.
• The exequatur ought to be initiated before the Court of Appeal of the registered domicile of the defendant.
• The creditor files its claim accompanied by the original or authentic copy of the foreign judgment to be recognised (and, if not in Portuguese, duly translated). After an initial review by the court to verify if it was submitted with all required elements, the Court will notify the defendant to present its opposition to the request. The defendant is entitled to present its defence and the creditor is allowed to reply.
• The parties, and the Public Prosecutor’s Office, will then be allowed to present final pleadings before a hearing and decision takes place.
• The Court of Appeal’s decision, once issued, is subject to appeal in accordance with Portuguese civil procedural law.

For purposes of subsequent enforcement of the foreign judgment, the creditor shall initiate enforcement proceedings in a territorially competent first instance court (either the court of the opposing party’s domicile or the court of the place where the enforcement is sought). These will be filed together with a copy of the decision, proof of power of attorney, as well as any other document relevant for the enforcement. Following a hearing and enforcement order by the judge, the creditor will be entitled to appoint an enforcement agent to proceed with enforcement actions.

Time taken to obtain recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments will vary in accordance with the particular Court of Appeal of sought. In general, it is fair to estimate a period from three to nine months to a obtain a decision on recognition and enforceability.

Judicial fees due depend on the amount of the claim, varying between EUR102 to EUR1,632. In case the claim amount exceeds EUR275,000, an additional EUR306 will be due for every EUR25,000 multiple. However, in the latter instance, the remnant of the judicial fee will be considered at the final decision on costs, but the court may decide to charge it.

Foreign judgments issued by EU member states will be subject to the grounds for refusal set out in EU Regulations. In particular, Portuguese courts will apply Article 45 of the Recast Brussels Regulation pursuant to which there will be no recognition and enforcement of:

• judgments manifestly contrary to public policy in the member state addressed;
• judgments given in default of appearance when the debtor did not have the opportunity to arrange for his or her defence;
• judgments irreconcilable with another judgment given between the same parties in the member state addressed;
• judgments irreconcilable with an earlier judgment given in another member state (or in a third state) between the same parties and with the same cause of action, if the latter fulfils the conditions necessary for its recognition in the member state addressed; and
• judgments conflicting with other provisions provided for in the Recast Brussels Regulation.

Regarding non-EU foreign judgments, the Portuguese Code of Civil Procedure sets out the following grounds for refusal of recognition and enforcement.

• If the judgment is not authentic. Authenticity will be assessed based on rules in force in the foreign jurisdiction.
• If the judgment is not final under the law of the jurisdiction where it was issued.
• If the matter is not subject to the foreign court’s jurisdiction or falls within the exclusive jurisdiction of the Portuguese courts.
• If the defendant was not served with the claim in accordance with the law of the foreign court, and the principles of adversarial proceedings and equality of the parties were not observed.
• If there is lis pendens or res judicata in regard of a case running on or decided by Portuguese courts.
• Recognition must not lead to a result that is manifestly incompatible with the Portuguese principles of international public order. Case law has considered principles such as pacta sunt servanda (“agreements must be kept”), good-faith, proportionality, prohibition of abuse of rights, non-discrimination and protection of weaker parties as integrating the Portuguese public policy exception.

Portuguese law does not set out express time limits to seek the recognition and enforcement of a foreign judgment. All decisions of recognition by the Court of Appeals are subject to appeal, provided that it meets the requirements provided for in the Portuguese Civil Code of Procedure.

Portugal has been a party to the 1958 New York Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards since 1995 and is also party to the Geneva Convention on the Execution of Foreign Arbitral Awards and the Washington Convention on the Settlement of Investment Disputes between States and Nationals of other States.

In addition, the Arbitration Law in force (Law No 63/2011) mirrors the New York Convention rules on recognition and enforcement of arbitral awards, and more broadly the logic and many provisions of the UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration, 1985, as updated in 2006.

With regards to arbitration in Portugal, which will be discussed in detail in this section on arbitral awards, an arbitral award has the same legal effects as a domestic judgment, both constituting enforceable titles. Both in relation to foreign and domestic arbitral awards, enforcement can only be halted based on a succinct list of grounds. Enforcement proceedings will only be completed once the creditor has been paid in full. Based on this robust pro-enforcement legal framework, arbitration is regularly employed in Portugal to resolve business disputes between domestic and foreign parties.

Portuguese law does not specifically provide for different approaches depending on the type of arbitral award at stake.

Enforcement of foreign Arbitral Awards will vary depending on their origin. Foreign arbitral awards will normally be subject to a previous declaratory phase for recognition prior to enforcement, and domestic arbitral awards are directly enforceable.

Any final arbitral awards that orders the performance of an obligation are enforceable. Lastly, no kind of arbitration award may be attacked on the basis of its merits or for substantive reasons in the process of enforcement.

Arbitral awards aimed at assessing whether a situation, right or fact exists, or deny orders, are non-enforceable by nature. Domestic awards that order generic obligations, that is, not detailed in terms of amount, require a prior declaratory phase prior to enforcement to specify the amounts attached to those obligations.

With regards to foreign arbitration awards that have not yet become binding on the parties or were set aside or suspended, the rules of the New York Convention and of the Arbitration Law provide that enforcement can be pursued, and the court has discretion to decide to enforce or not.

Similarly, if the award is in the process of being set aside or suspended abroad, the Portuguese courts also have the discretion to proceed with enforcement or stay the proceedings, if it considers appropriate unless the defendant requests the suspension of the enforcement in the competent court, provided that they actually post security for the value of the award. The same is the case with domestic arbitral award pending set aside.

Foreign Arbitral Awards

Foreign Arbitration Awards will only be effective in Portugal, save for mandatory provisions of international conventions, following a procedure for recognition and enforcement (Article 55 of the Arbitration Law).

The interested party shall file a request with:

• the original award (authenticated) or a certified copy;
• the original arbitration agreement or a certified copy; and
• certified translation of the award or arbitration agreement into Portuguese if they are in a different language.

The court competent for this application is the court of appeal for the district of domicile of party against whom the decision is to be invoked.

The opposing party will be served notice to present its opposition within 15 days. After this exchange of written submissions, the relevant parties and the Public Prosecutors Office have access to the file for another 15 days, to be able to present their closing arguments. The hearing, if necessary, is conducted under the rules for appeals.

Enforcement will proceed according to the domestic arbitral awards enforcement proceedings.

Domestic Arbitral Awards

Domestic arbitration awards and recognised foreign arbitral awards, as already mentioned, constitute enforceable titles. Thus, enforcement can be sought directly without any need for prior recognition or confirmation procedure near first instance courts.

The enforcement application is filed with the enforcement agent, who immediately prepares the ex parte attachment of assets (penhora). This will only not be the case if the agent rejects this filing for formal reasons or sends it to a judge to decide on any potential irregularity or to confirm the requirements of an enforceable title.

Following this, the defendant is served notice of the proceedings and of the ability to oppose the attachment of assets within 20 days. In this opposition, the defendant can request that the proceedings be stayed and offer to provide security. The competent court for enforcement proceedings is the first instance court of the place where the party against whom the action is initiated is domiciled.

Foreign Arbitral Awards

For foreign arbitral awards, as mentioned, require a previous procedure of recognition and enforcement. This procedure entails payment of court fees, not high, and will be expeditious (based on the time limits for the parties’ pleadings described in 4.6 Challenging Enforcement of Arbitral Awards) if the defendant can be served promptly.

Domestic Arbitral Awards

In relation to both foreign and domestic arbitral awards, the enforcement proceedings will depend on finding assets of the defendant and as such can take some time. Typical costs will be moderate and enforcement proceedings are expeditious if assets can be traced.

Strategies to make these proceedings more efficient entail anticipating asset tracing efforts to assist the enforcement agent.

Portuguese law does not set out a limitation period for actions to enforce either foreign or domestic arbitration awards.

Foreign Arbitral Awards

The enforcement of foreign arbitration awards can be challenged based on the grounds available under the applicable international conventions at the stage of recognition, including the Washington Convention (although more expeditiously in Portugal) and the New York Convention (under the procedure described previously and set out in the Arbitration Law). Those that do not fall in either convention or other treaties, will be challenged based on the grounds available under the Arbitration Law, similar to the New York Convention and Model Law.

The grounds for non-recognition of a foreign arbitral award are:

• if one of the parties to the arbitration agreement lacked capacity, or the agreement is not valid under the law the parties agreed would govern it, or failing any reference thereto, under the law where the award was made;
• if one of the parties was not given proper notice of the appointment of an arbitrator or of the arbitral proceedings or was otherwise unable to present its case;
• if the award dealt with a dispute not contemplated by the arbitration agreement, or if it contains decisions on matters beyond the scope of the agreement (admitting enforcement of parts of the award that were submitted to arbitration);
• if the composition of the tribunal or the arbitral procedure did not respect the parties’ agreement, or, failing such agreement, was not in accordance with the law where the award was made; and
• if the award has not yet become binding on the parties or has been set aside or suspended by a court of the country in which, or under the law of which, that award was made.

Additionally, an award may be set aside if the court finds that:

• under Portuguese law, the subject of the dispute cannot be decided by arbitration; or
• the award is in clear conflict with Portuguese international public policy.

The concept of international public policy of the Portuguese state was adopted by the legislator to highlight the exceptional nature of this clause, which Portuguese courts have consistently upheld.

Domestic Arbitral Awards

Appeal on the merits is not possible, unless the parties agree so and the dispute was not decided on an ex aequo et bono basis or through amiable composition. In international arbitrations with their seat in Portugal, the parties are also not entitled to appeal unless they have expressly agreed the possibility of appeal to another arbitral tribunal and have regulated its terms and conditions. Therefore, unless otherwise agreed by the parties, domestic arbitration awards may only be challenged before a state court through an application for setting aside.

In parallel, the enforcement of domestic arbitration awards can be challenged based on the grounds available under annulment, save if the same grounds were raised and dismissed at the annulment stage.

The grounds setting aside a domestic arbitral award are:

• if one of the parties to the arbitration agreement lacked capacity, or the agreement is not valid under the law the parties agreed would govern it, or failing any reference thereto, under the Arbitration Law;
• if there has been a violation of any of mandatory principles set out in the Arbitration Law, with decisive influence on the outcome of the dispute;
• if the award dealt with a dispute not contemplated by the arbitration agreement, or if it contains decisions on matters beyond the scope of the agreement;
• if the composition of the tribunal or the arbitral procedure did not respect the parties’ agreement, unless that agreement conflicted with a provision of the Arbitration Law from which the parties cannot derogate or, failing such agreement, was not in accordance with the Arbitration Law, and, in any case, this inconformity had a decisive influence on the decision;
• if the tribunal awarded an amount above what was claimed or on a claim different to the one presented, or addressed issues that it should not have addressed, or failed to decide issues that it should have decided;
• if the award was made in violation of certain formal requirements of the Arbitration Law; and
• if the award was served on the parties after the time limit applicable under the Arbitration Law or agreed by the parties.

Additionally, an award may be set aside if the court finds that:

• under Portuguese law, the subject of the dispute cannot be decided by arbitration; or
• the award is in conflict with Portuguese international public policy.

In any case, if a party fails to request the annulment of the award within the relevant time limit (60 days), that party cannot invoke any of the available grounds at the enforcement stage. The court can, in any case, verify arbitrability under Portuguese law and compatibility with the international public policy of the Portuguese state.