Already a business-friendly country with a successful track record of foreign investment inflow, Portugal has been undertaking reforms in order to enhance its competitiveness in a wide range of areas. Among them is market regulation. Under the new Competition Act, passed in early 2003, the Competition Authority was created with a mandate to prevent anti-competitive practices and to promote market transparency.
The new Portuguese competition watchdog – Autoridade da Concorrencia – encompasses the substantive and procedural legal powers of both the former Competition Council and the directorate general for commerce and competition. Its foundation has accomplished a much-awaited reform that sceptics had thought would be impossible.
